Six Months
by LotusTattoo
Summary: Three childhood best friends; Sam, Puck and Mercedes are reunited in New York for six months as adults. What happens when two guys fall for the same girl?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Chapter 1

**PUCK**

The tall, dark haired and disheveled man stumbled into the empty bar at 2 AM.

"I'm sorry sir," the bartender called out, "We are just about to close. Last call was five minutes ago."

The drunk man looked at him with such pleading eyes, that Figgins found himself softening towards the stranger. It had been an unusually slow night and he wasn't looking forward to going home to an empty house since his Roz had left to stay at her sister's after they had gotten into a fight.

"Okay, one drink. What would you like?"

A look of gratitude spread across his face as he suddenly made a sprite bee line to the bar to sit down.

"You don't know what your kindness means to me, man. I could use a friend. I just fucked up so badly…." He trailed off and started to stare at his hands.

Figgins started to make a drink for the man…should probably stay away from the hard stuff, but he looked like he was suffering. He slid the drink to the man and asked, "Okay, who is she?"

Noah looked up at him with a start. "How did you know?"

"Listen, I have heard everything running this bar. I am the lowest paid psychologist in New York City. So tell me, who is she?"

"Her name is Mercedes. Mercedes Jones. And," Noah's voice broke, "I not only lost her, but my best friend. What have I done?"

"How about you start at the beginning?"

Noah took a big swig of his drink and winced as the heat travelled down his throat.

"The beginning? Well, we met as kids, when we were 12. Sam and I were best friends and let's just say we had our growth spurts late. We were both scrawny and constantly talked about being a superhero team. We had our own language. Other boys made fun of us. Well, one day, the biggest bully in school, Shane, came over and demanded our lunches. Sam fought back, but Shane pushed him to the ground. Out of nowhere, this little force of a girl comes swooping in and pushed Shane, yelling at him about picking on someone his own size and all sorts of other stuff. We both were staring at her in awe. Shane turned to leave and she looked back at us, put her hand out for Sam and stated in all confidence and brightness, "My name's Mercedes." And that was it. We were a trio that could not be separated. We did everything together. She was the perfect combination of tomboy, prettiness and loyalty.

One day she came running to Sam's house crying and crying saying her dad got a job out in California and they would be moving the next week. Sam and I were devastated. Our best girl was leaving. The goodbyes were so hard and we missed her so much, but Sam and I became closer than ever.

We kept in touch with her for a while, but by the time high school had started, we had lost complete touch with her. We always talked about her and compared girls who we would date to her. "She wasn't a Mercedes, but she was nice."

So, I'm going to jump to 17 years from when we first met. Six months ago, Sam and I are playing a game of pick up basketball and after the game he says, "You'll never guess who called me."

"Who?"

"Who's the coolest girl we have ever known?"

"That's easy. Mercedes Jones."

"Bingo. She's going to be in town next week. She's some high powered executive out in San Francisco and she's going to be in New York for business. She found me online."

"What? She called you? Why would she call you and not me?"

"Puck, what, are we still 12? Who the fuck cares? She's going to be in town and we are going to pick her up at JFK next Tuesday night."

Tuesday comes and I am nervous as hell. I keep breaking out into a sweat and can't concentrate at all at work. It's finally the end of the day and I haven't done shit. Finally Sam calls from the cab downstairs. I get in the cab and Sam looks like a mess too. His eyes are all shifty and he can't sit still.

"Sam! Would you stop bouncing in the damn seat? Relax, it's just Mercedes." Even I didn't believe that lie. He just gave me the side eye and kept bouncing his legs. We got the airport and are waiting with all of the limo drivers holding signs.

"Do you think she will look the same?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, man. She's still going to look like a 12 year old girl. Fuck! You are freaking me out."

Just then, the most gorgeous woman in a black fitted skirt suit comes out of the doors walking with all the confidence in the world. I was momentarily paralyzed. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move. My mouth just hung open like a fucking idiot. I broke the spell for a split second to look at Sam and he was just as gone as I was. I looked back at Mercedes, she was almost to us.

She gave the biggest smile and said, "Hello boys!" and grabbed us both into a hug.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Chapter 2

**SAM**

Sam could not believe how sexy Mercedes had become. He always held her up on a pedestal, she was his first crush, but when she came walking through those doors, he couldn't function. He forgot everything around him and all he could see was her walking towards them looking amazing in her black suit.

"Hello boys!" she said and grabbed both him and Puck into a warm hug. He had an urge to rest his head on the top of her's and rub her back. And then let his hand travel down a little further to her…

"Mercedes! You look amazing." said Puck, interrupting Sam's thoughts.

"Thank you Puck. I can't believe how great you guys look." Mercedes said looking right at Sam.

Sam and Mercedes were still looking at each other when an unaware Puck said, "Here, let me get your carry on." They snapped out of it.

"Oh, thanks Puck!" she said and he slung his arm around her. Sam was instantly jealous.

"Puck, give her some space, she was just on a plane across the country." Mercedes looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"So, guys! Catch me up on your lives! I want to know everything."

"We don't want to talk about us. We want to hear about you. Job. Life. Men?" Sam asked.

Mercedes gave him that drop dead smile again. "Okay, job: great. I work my ass off but I love what I do. Life: I have none."

"Men?" Sam asked

"Men?" Puck echoed.

She laughed. "No, no men. I don't have time for relationships. I'm married to my job." Just as she said it, her phone started to ring. "They can wait. I just landed for shit's sake."

They got her bags and decided to drop them off at Mercedes' corporate housing then headed to Sam's favorite restaurant near his place. They got to their table and Mercedes took off her jacket to reveal a silky tank that hugged her body just so. Sam felt a stirring down in his pants. He adjusted himself and asked, "Okay, how long will you be in town?"

"I'm here for 6 months. I'm so glad you guys are here, it will be good to have some friends in town. One of the things I told myself to do is to get out and actually SEE New York. I need to get some more life into my damn life! So Sam, your LinkedIn profile says you are a private wealth manager? I'm impressed."

"Thanks. I actually got a job right out of college from a friend's dad and that led to this."

"I don't see rings on either of your fingers. You haven't taken the leap?" she teased.

Puck laughed, "No, as of now, not planning to. But, Sam here has dated enough of the New York socialite pool that I'm surprised he hasn't met someone to settle down with."

Sam shot him a look that said, I'm gonna kick your ass. Puck looked back and gave a slight shrug.

"Aahhh, I see. So you are the playboy about town?" Mercedes said looking at Sam.

"I wouldn't say that," Sam said running his fingers through his hair, "I get set up quite a bit by clients who have single daughters my age. The dates always end up awkward and we never have anything in common. On top of that, the girls hardly eat their damn food and just push it around their plate."

"In fact, he has a date Friday with a very popular New York news anchor, Quinn Fabray." Puck said. Sam groaned.

Mercedes leaned on the table and Sam noticed her breasts being pushed up by her arms. Look up Sam, look up he said to himself. He did and she was watching him with a slight smile.

"I'm really not looking forward to another set up," he said leaning back in his chair. Suddenly he shot back up, "Hold up, guys, come with me."

Mercedes burst out laughing, "Are you crazy? You want us to be your chaperones? Come on, Sammy, you're a big boy."

He liked her calling him Sammy.

"No, I'm serious. I won't be able to stand another uncomfortable blind date. And with you both there, it will make things easier for me. You guys are fucking coming."

Puck and Mercedes looked at each other. "I'm down. Mercedes?"

"Then I am too." She said smiling at Puck.

They all finished up dinner catching up, laughing and teasing each other. When it was time to go, Mercedes said she could get to her place on her own. Sam gave her a look that said over his dead body. So they piled into the cab and dropped her off. Sam's eyes were drawn to her ass as she got out of the cab. There was that stirring again. Stop Sam.

She turned around, "Good night you two. I really am happy we reconnected. Feels like we were never apart." And she closed the door.

Both men didn't realize the other one was watching her with desire in their eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Chapter 3

**MERCEDES**

"Oh hell to the mother fucking no!" Kurt yelled into Mercedes' ear through her cell.

"Kurt, I'm really sorry I didn't get a chance to come over and say bye to you and Blaine before I left, but you need to step back and remember I tried to get you to come to coffee with me in the morning and what were your exact words? Oh yeah, "FUCK no I'm not waking up that early!"

"What? Wait, what was that? I couldn't hear a word you said past I'm sorry. How are you going to leave the Bay for six damn months and not swing by and give your bestie some love? Do you know I have been in a depression all day? I didn't even want to go with Blaine to get a couple's massage."

"Kurt, I love you and I'm sorry, but you are coming out to spend a weekend with me next month! So we will see each other soon."

"You are so lucky I love you. Okay, so tell me about the dynamic duo!"

Mercedes lie back on her pillows and let herself reflect on Sam and Puck. She saw them before they saw her, it was pretty easy, they were towering above all of the limo drivers. When her eyes landed on Sam, her breath had caught. She knew she was going to be happy to be back with people who knew her from so long ago, but she never anticipated the immediate feeling of attraction that she had had for Sam. Puck wasn't bad to look at either; they had both become successful and gorgeous men, but Sammy….

"HEL-LO!" Mercedes was jolted from her thoughts, "Oh my God, bitch, did you fall asleep on me?"

Laughing, Mercedes said, "No Kurt! Damn, you need to stop yelling in my ear. You asked me about the guys and my train of thought just got away from me. I had a lot of fun. They are both very good looking, successful, funny…."

"Uh huh, okay, which one are you crushing on? Your voice went to that higher pitch where you are acting like it's no big deal, but there is something underneath you're trying to hide. So spill it!"

"Kurt, I don't have time for any type of relationship. I am here to open our New York branch and that's it. When this is a success, I will get the Vice President promotion in San Francisco. I need to focus on work." Who am I trying to convince, Mercedes thought, Kurt or myself?

"Okay, whatever you say. Hold on a sec. Blaine, what was that? WHO? No! You did not tell me. Mercedes, doll, I have to go. Blaine has invited my nemesis to go out with us tonight and I need to mentally prepare. I love you, and I'm glad you made it safely, even without saying good bye. Kisses!"

"Bye Kurt. I love you too."

Mercedes put the phone on the nightstand and turned off the light. She wanted to get her work/life balance in check, but she couldn't even think of starting any type of relationship right now. That's that.

The next couple of days went by fast and she was extremely busy. But through it all, she couldn't help that her thoughts kept going back to Sam. Sam's hair. Sam's hands. Sam wearing the hell out of that tee shirt the other night. During some down time she decided to call his office.

"Sam Evans." He said curtly, but so sexy. Stop it, Mercedes.

"Hi Sam. Mercedes Jones." She mimicked him with a smile.

"Oh please, you will never win an impersonation battle with me. I am the fucking king."

"I'm not even going to pretend I can take you, I'm awful. So, Mr. Evans, are you ready for your date tonight?"

"You do realize the only thing making me excited about this is being able to see you all dressed up looking sexy."

Mercedes' heart started to beat fast.

"You need to go into this with more of an open mind. She may surprise you. So what will you be wearing?"

"You tell me." He said in a low, deep voice.

This man! "I'd say a green button down shirt. It will bring out your eyes."

"Okay, green shirt it is. Any other suggestions?"

Yes, just take me out instead. Mercedes thought. "No, just bring your gorgeous self and she will be impressed."

There was a pause on his side and then he said, "Okay, Mercedes. So I will see you guys at the restaurant?"

"We'll be there and bring our A game. See you in a few hours Sammy."

"Bye, sweet girl."

"Bye, Sam."

She was home and had an hour before Puck was coming to get her for their "double date" with Sam and Quinn. She had seen Quinn on the morning news the past few days and she was beautiful, but also seemed a bit cold. Maybe it was just the fact she was seeing her on TV, but she was definitely going to be keeping her eyes on this one.

Okay, focus. Hair down. Smokey eyes, nude/pinkish lip gloss, little blush. Dress or black pants and cute top? She pulled out a flattering teal wrap dress that showed just the right amount of cleavage. Paired it with a couple of gold layering necklaces, bangles and some heels. She was just putting on her shoes and a jacket when there was a knock at her door.

She opened it and there was Puck. He looked great, but had a look on his face Mercedes couldn't quite read.

"Hi Puck!" she said giving him a hug. "Ready to go be Sam's wingmen?"

"Um. Oh! Yeah, girl! We look good as a couple!"

Mercedes just laughed. "Alright, let's go."

They got to the restaurant and Sam and Quinn were already sitting at the table. He was wearing an olive green shirt and looked sexy as hell. However, they weren't talking and Sam looked anxious. Quinn had a bored look on her face. Puck and Mercedes walked up to the table just as Sam was taking a sip of his drink. He looked up and started to choke on his gin and tonic. Puck went over and clapped him on the back a few times.

"You alright man?" Puck said.

"Sam! Are you okay?" Mercedes asked at the same time.

Sam was still coughing, but nodding his head yes. Then there was an awkward silence.

Mercedes reached out her hand to Quinn, "Hi! I'm Mercedes and this is Puck."

Quinn looked Mercedes up and down and reached out her hand and gave Mercedes a limp, only fingers hand shake. Oh hell no Mercedes thought.

"Hi Quinn. Puck, Mercedes' boyfriend." Puck said as he came to Mercedes' side and put his arm around her.

Mercedes shot a look to Sam and saw his face had turned to a scowl and was a slight shade of red. They made their way to their seats, Mercedes across from Sam and Puck across from Quinn.

"So, all of you guys have known each other since you were kids?" Quinn asked.

"Yep," they all said at the same time and started to laugh.

The conversation actually started to flow once all of them had their drinks. Quinn loosened up a bit and actually cracked a smile here and there. Pretending to be a couple became easier for Mercedes by her second martini. But, she would still catch Sam's eye every once in a while looking pissed the hell off. They were talking about Quinn's job and a co-anchor who was pursuing her when the conversation took another turn.

"Well, Mercedes was my first crush" Sam said. Mercedes' eyes popped open and she gave him a swift kick under the table to the shin. He was flirting with her on a date with someone else while I'm supposedly sitting here with my boyfriend. She looked over at Quinn, but she didn't seem to care.

"Ow!" Sam exclaimed with a gleam in his eye.

Puck put his arm around Mercedes and said, "Well, I'm the lucky one these days."

Mercedes smiled and looked at Puck, "No, I'm the lucky one."

Just then the waitress came over, "Can I get anything else for you guys?"

"No. Just the check please," Sam said quickly.

Mercedes looked at Sam and he was looking intently at her. She couldn't tell if he wanted to throw her on the table and take her right there or if he wanted to stalk out of the restaurant and forget all of them.

Sam and Puck fought over who would pay for it, Sam won. They were all standing outside of the restaurant and getting ready to say good night. Quinn was apart from them on her phone.

"Sooo…." Puck started, "Talk to you later, man." He and Sam gave each other a bro hug. Then Puck went to go hail a cab.

Sam turned to look at Mercedes. She looked up and him. "Call me. Call me soon." She said quietly.

Sam didn't say anything, but smiled down at her. Then he turned and walked over to Quinn.

"Ready gorgeous?" Puck called from the open door of the cab.

The ride was quick. Puck went on about what a bitch Quinn was and how fun it was to pretend to be a couple. Mercedes was listening, but only half way. Her mind was on Sam.

"Mercedes?" Puck was saying, "We're here at your place."

"Oh! Sorry, I must have had a little too much to drink. Thanks so much Puck. It actually ended up being pretty fun tonight." She leaned over to give him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "Good night Puck."

"Night Mercedes."

She got out and made her way to her place. Once inside she changed into a white v-neck and pink sweat shorts. Just then there was a knock on her door. "What the hell?" Mercedes said. She walked to the door and looked through the peep hole. Her breath got caught in her throat. She opened the door slowly.

"What are you doing here, Sam?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Thank you everyone for your reviews! I love to hear your input!

**SAM**

The dinner had been excruciating for the most part, but now it was over. Sam was going insane having to watch Puck all over Mercedes. And her playing along. He was so pissed, but it had been his damn idea.

He was walking Quinn back to her place since it was so close to the restaurant. They honestly had nothing in common, but her father was a huge client of the company and he needed to keep that work relationship on good terms. They got to Quinn's building.

"Thanks for walking me home, Sam." Quinn said.

"Of course. So, I guess we'll be talking…" Sam let his sentence trail off because they both knew there would be no second date.

Quinn smiled, "Have a good night Sam." And she turned and walking into her lobby.

Sam's place was only a few blocks away, he could walk home and be there in 5 minutes. He started to walk towards his place, but his mind kept going to Mercedes in that amazing dress and her smile and her contagious laugh. He started to slow his walk down a bit and before he really knew what he was doing, he was hailing a cab.

A cab pulled over and Sam hopped in and gave Mercedes' address. She had to be home by now. But what if she and Puck decided to go someplace else for a drink? Or worse, what if he was in her place with her? He pushed those thoughts down and tried to calm his nerves. What the hell was he doing? What if she said it wasn't appropriate for him to be there? Fuck, Sam. Stop thinking! Great, there go my hands getting all sweaty.

The cab pulled up to her building. Sam just stared up at it. He gave the cabbie his fare and got out. Oh shit! How the hell am I going to get in? I don't know the code. Then, he saw someone was coming down the hallway to leave the building. He sprinted up the steps and acted like he belonged there. The man held open the door for him and he got into the elevator and pushed the 17th floor, just like on Tuesday night when they dropped off her bags. Had it really only been a few days since she arrived?

The elevator doors opened on her floor. He wiped his hands on his pants for the hundredth time and walked to her door. And knocked.

He heard her walking to the door and saw the light disappear through the peephole while she looked through it. Then the door slowly opened. She looked so damn sexy in her almost see through white shirt and short shorts.

"What are you doing here, Sam?" she asked.

"I don't know," Sam answered, "What am I doing here?"

They just stared at each other for about 10 seconds before they both flew forward crashing into each other with a longing that took over his whole body. They were kissing so passionately, her tongue was in his mouth, his tongue in hers. He walked her backwards into her place and slammed the door shut and threw her against it. Their lips never left each other but their hands were both tearing all over each other's bodies. He lifted her up by her ass and groaned when he grabbed it and her shorts had lifted so he was touching her bare skin. She wrapped her legs around his waist and was unbuttoning his shirt. He couldn't make his hands leave her perfect ass, so he just continued to massage it while she grinded on his hardness that seemed like it was trying to bust its way out of his pants.

He pulled her away from the door, still carrying her and walked to her bedroom. The change in scenery made them slow down a little. He gently laid her on the bed and just looked at her.

"You are so damn beautiful Mercedes." Sam marveled.

"Come here," Mercedes said softly.

He sat down next to her while she sat up and slowly took off his shirt while running her fingers down his chest and arms. They started to kiss again, but this time with tenderness. He pulled away and started to take her shirt off. When it was still coming off over her head, he took her nipple into his mouth and began to suck. Mercedes let out a low moan as he sucked one nipple and twisted the other one with his fingers. He took his other hand and put it in her shorts and felt how wet she was. It was his turn to moan as he felt her wetness all over his fingers.

"Mercedes," Sam started to say.

"Shhh," Mercedes told him.

She pulled down her shorts and gently pushed him down onto the bed. She unbuttoned and unzipped his pants all while kissing his chest and neck and sucking his ear. Sam was going to lose his mind. He needed to be inside of her.

She pulled down his pants and boxer briefs in one motion and then she took him into her mouth.

"Shit Mercedes! Oh shit." Sam sputtered.

After she worked on him for a while, she sat up and straddled him. Sam stopped breathing in anticipation.

"Sam, do you have a condom?" Mercedes asked.

"In my wallet in my pants pocket."

Mercedes scrambled to get it. She pulled it out of the wallet and threw it to him. He opened it and rolled it down his shaft. The whole time they were looking into each other's eyes. Sam grabbed her by her hips and brought her back up to straddle him. They never broke eye contact as she slowly brought herself down onto him. When he entered her they both let out long moans. She rode him and Sam couldn't focus on anything. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. She was amazing.

"Mercedes, slow down. I don't want to come yet."

She slowed and lay down on top of him. He rolled her over and was on top of her moving in and out of her slowly. They were both at the brink. He started to pump in and out of her at a faster pace.

"Sam, Sam! Oh my God, you're going to make me come!"

"Mercedes, oh shit, shit SHIT!" And he released at the same time that she yelled and started to shudder.

He collapsed on top of her. He went to kiss her. They kissed and smiled looking at each other.

"Wow, Mercedes, you are amazing on so many levels."

Mercedes looked at him, "Sam, I have to tell you, I am not looking for anything serious. I'm only here until the end of the year and if we continue this, it needs to stay light."

Sam wasn't expecting her to say that, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made.

"Simple. No expectations. Fun. I can do that Ms. Jones."

Mercedes lay her head on his stomach and he absentmindedly stroked her back. This was nice.

"Mercedes? I don't think we should say anything to Puck about this. It would just make things complicated and it may be better to just keep it between us." He said.

"Really?" she said looking up at him, "Okay, you know him best. Now, what do you say to some ice cream?" She hopped up and threw on his button down shirt and walked out of the room. Sam had the biggest smile on his face. This had turned out to be an amazing night. Keep it simple, Sam, he thought to himself. Simple, I can do this.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Hi guys. Sorry, this is a really short chapter, but I'm posting the next one later today.

**PUCK**

Puck looked down at his empty glass as he was absentmindedly swirling the ice around in it. He had never been this drunk in his life. Even when he and Sam had that crazy Spring Break in Miami. He shut his eyes tight at the thought of Sam.

"Have you ever been in love," Puck asked Figgins as he was pouring another drink for Puck and one for himself as well.

"I am in love," Figgins said as he thought of his Roz, "She's the love of my life but difficult as hell. That's the thing, love is never easy."

Puck nodded his head and took a sip of his drink.

"Alright," Figgins said, "So you guys went on the double date and Mercedes was really into you."

"Hell yes! She was smiling at me, leaning into me all night. I was the happiest man in the world. I knew it had started as a pretend double date, but it began to feel real. And then, in the cab on the way back to her place, I was saying that to her! That the date felt real and she was just smiling and looking out of the window like she felt the same way. I don't know man, I was just caught up in wanting her.

When the three of us weren't working, we spend most of the next few months together constantly. I was on a high from having two people I really care about in my life so much. Mercedes made us go places we usually would never be caught dead in, but she made it fun. Art museum, please, me? Fuck no. But I went because she was talking about this photography exhibit there and made it sounds so damn interesting that I actually wanted to see that shit.

She lit up when she talked. No matter what the subject, she was passionate about it. And her enthusiasm for life seemed to transfer to Sam and me. I noticed Sam was smiling more and he never flew off the handle about stupid shit like he used to. I just thought he was on the same boat as me and just feeding off of Mercedes.

And for Mercedes, I knew for her it was because she was actually living instead of just working constantly. So when I saw this glow that both of them had, I assumed it was for those reasons and not because they were secretly seeing each other.

One day Mercedes and I were on our own for a walk through Central Park. We saw a family with two young kids walk by us and she said, "Have you ever wondered if you have worked so hard and long to get to a certain point in life only to realize you aren't sure it's what you want anymore?"

Holy shit, she's talking about me, I thought. She has been having so much fun with me out here in New York that she's not sure if she wants to go back home. I didn't want her to know I knew what she was talking about, so I just said, "I don't think you should ever be afraid of going for what you want." I just knew she was going to turn to me and kiss me.

She was still looking away and she turned to me and she looked like she had tears in her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

I'm jumping a little back in time in this chapter from the last one's ending. I wanted to have a fun chapter before an angsty one.

**MERCEDES**

_One month before Mercedes' walk in the park with Puck:_

Sam was moaning. "Mercedes, ahh fuck." His eyes were closed and he was leaning against the hallway wall with his head thrown back in pleasure. Mercedes was loving this. She was running so late for work and was dressed and ready to leave Sam's place when he had laughed at her manic running around and said she would never risk being late for her job by doing anything spontaneous. Challenge accepted.

Mercedes looked at him, "Really, Sam? You're going to go there right now when I'm so damn late?" she said.

He just gave her a smirk with the devil in his green eyes. Okay, Mercedes thought, he wants to play that way. She slowed her walk down the hallway and turned around to face him. He still had the smirk on his face that quickly disappeared when she pushed him against the wall and went down to her knees. She looked up at him. Now it was her turn to give him the smirk as she kept eye contact and pulled down his drawstring shorts. Sam's face would have made her burst out laughing if she wasn't about to put his shaft in her mouth. She licked the tip as his breath hitched in his throat. She sucked him as he got big and hard in her mouth. He was losing his mind. He didn't know where to put his hands, they were pressed against the wall, on her shoulders, running through his hair. Just as he was starting to move his hips in motion with her sucking, she popped him out of her mouth and stood up. There was that shocked face again!

"Next time you will know not to challenge me, Sammy." Mercedes said as she gave him a quick kiss before running down the hallway giggling and grabbing her purse before he could recover enough to understand what had just happened.

Hahahhaha, she thought to herself as she was still sprinting to the elevator. She heard his door open, Oh shit! He's coming to grab me!

"Mercedes," Sam's deep voice echoed through the hallway, "You have started a war I intend on winning."

The elevator door opened and she jumped in with a smile on her face.

Later that afternoon, while swamped at work, her phone rang from her secretary's desk.

"Hi Sugar," Mercedes answered.

"Mercedes…." Sugar usually had an excited voice on any normal day, but today she was practically squealing, "there is a gentleman out here who says he has an appointment to see you, but I don't have anything on your calendar. He said you made the appointment personally with him just as you were on your way into the office?" She heard Sugar giggle after her last word.

Sam! Mercedes thought this man is not doing this right now. She had so much work to do, but said, "Thank you Sugar, you can send him in." Mercedes whipped out her compact from her drawer quickly to make sure she looked okay and threw it back in just as he was opening the door.

She still couldn't believe after two months, the sight of him still made her heart race. He opened the door and was wearing a beautiful black pinstripe suit with a white button down shirt and a charcoal grey tie. Damn, this man is something to look at Mercedes thought as her mouth formed a small "o".

As it seemed to always happen, they just looked at each other for a beat before actually saying anything. Sam was the first to speak.

"Hello Ms. Pretty. I can't believe I have never been to your office before," he said as he locked her office door.

Fuck, Mercedes thought.

He was still looking straight at her as he started to walk towards her desk. He came around to the side she was sitting on and spun her chair to face him. Mercedes was both turned on and scared…who knew what Sam had planned for her after this morning. He bent over and gave her a soft kiss on the lips then stood up again.

"Sam, you do realize you made me do what I did this morning, so how about we call a truce?" she said and gave him her brightest smile.

"Oh no, that smile usually can get me to do just about anything but like I told you before, this is war," Sam said.

"Okay," Mercedes started. She needed to find a way out of this, "How about I cook you a delicious dinner tonight and then I will finish what I started?"

Sam just shook his head. "Your punishment for this morning is: you cannot touch my poor, mistreated dick for one week."

Mercedes was shocked. She couldn't believe this! She needed to find a way to make him see the flaw in his plan.

"Sam, that seems like it is punishing both of us and that doesn't seem fair."

"Don't worry, Mercedes, I've got lotion and a hand."

"Sam!" Mercedes exclaimed, trying not to laugh.

He smiled, bent down and pushed her legs open. She wanted to want to close her legs, but why fight it? He rubbed her inner thigh with one hand and put his hand under her skirt. He pushed her underwear to the side. Mercedes was starting to breathe fast. He pushed two fingers inside of her and moved them around pushing on her walls and then started to pull them in and out. He used his thumb to gently rub her clit in circles. She was moving around in her seat trying to get him to push his fingers deeper. He was just watching her face and just as fast as he had started fingering her, he stopped. Mercedes knew what was going to happen, but she told him she wanted him in her anyway.

"Sorry beautiful, my dick is on lockdown until next week. And I'm late for a meeting."

"Ugh, Sam, you can't be serious," she said.

"As a heart attack." He said as he made his way to the door. He opened it and Sugar was right there.

"Oh!" she shouted, "I'm sorry, I was just coming to give Ms. Jones some files."

Mercedes quickly tried to compose herself.

"Bye Sam," said Mercedes.

"Bye Mercedes," he smiled at her and left.

Sugar came in and handed her the files she had asked for right before Sam showed up to fuck with her.

"Thanks Sugar."

Just then, Mercedes' cell rang. Sugar left her office. Kurt's name and a picture of him smiling and waving at the camera popped up. She had to let it go to voicemail because she knew their conversation would be a long one. He'd had to postpone his trip out to New York because of an emergency with his bar he and Blaine owned that had come up. He was coming sometime soon, she just wasn't sure when. She was nervous and excited about Kurt meeting Sam and Puck. She already knew he didn't approve of her situation with Sam, but once he saw how perfect it was without the complications of a relationship, he would come to terms with it.

She spent the rest of the day sexually frustrated and busy as hell with work. When she got home, there was a huge flower delivery. They were beautiful. She opened the card and laughed. "Let the games begin. Yours, Sam". She took out her cell.

"Hello?" Sam said.

"Hi Sam. Thank you for the flowers. They are beautiful. You owe me dinner after leaving me all worked up at the office."

"Oh, let's not forget who started this." He responded.

"That would be you. You challenged me and I was not going to let that slide."

Sam laughed. "Okay, but your punishment is still in effect until next week this time."

"Fine, then my girls are behind an iron clad wall. No touching them, kissing them, nothing. But you are allowed to look at them. I may even walk around topless so you can see what you can't touch." Mercedes responded.

"You fight dirty, girl. Okay, well you just may find me walking around wearing your favorite boxer briefs only. And sometimes just straight up buck naked. What do you think about that, Cedes?"

Oh, she loved it when he called her that.

"Game on."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Thanks for your reviews guys. I love hearing what you all think! Thanks for reading.

_This chapter picks up right from where the last one ends._

**SAM**

Sam hung up the phone shaking his head and laughing at this woman. He actually wondered if he should go grab dinner and surprise her by bringing it over to her place. No, he needed to give her some space and also, he needed to keep his feelings in check. They were both intent on keeping it light since her stay New York was temporary. But it wasn't easy for him. He had more fun and excitement with Mercedes than he had ever had with any other woman. She kept him on his toes, made him laugh and the sex. He whistled to himself thinking about it.

He decided to throw some left over pizza in the microwave and stay in.

Sam wasn't looking forward to his morning meeting, it was with Russell Fabray. He could not stand this man, he was a fucking asshole. But, for some reason, he liked Sam and his boss had been on his ass to get him to let their company manage all of his assets instead of just a portion. So it was Sam's job to woo him, kiss his ass and at their last meeting's request, agree to take out his daughter. He hadn't spoken to Mr. Fabray or Quinn since their date, so he wasn't sure what to expect today.

Sam was chuckling at an email he just opened from Mercedes in which had a picture of her ample cleavage and only the words, "Miss them?", when his secretary called and said Mr. Fabray was here for his meeting. Sam's smile disappeared and he minimized his email screen, grabbed a notepad, a pen and stood up to go and get the fucker from the lobby.

As he got closer to the reception area, he heard Mr. Fabray yelling at the top of his lungs into some poor person on the other end of his cell. Sam took a deep breath and opened the hallway door to greet the bastard. He walked in and Mr. Fabray rounded on him, saw Sam was there and said into his phone, "Fix it shithead." And hung up. All class.

"Good morning Mr. Fabray. It's nice to see you again. We're over here in this conference room," Sam said motioning to a beautiful all glass room just off of the lobby.

He grunted and made his way towards the room. This was going to be fun, Sam thought. They walked into the room and Mr. Fabray sat at the head of the table as Sam closed the door.

"It's really good to see you Mr. Fabray. I have worked up some – "Sam started before he was interrupted.

"Let's cut the bullshit Sam. I'm not here for a business meeting with you. I'm here because of Quinn. She said she had a really nice date with you but you have neglected to call her since. And that was a couple of months ago." He was glaring at Sam challenging him to say anything against Quinn.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fabray. I have been extremely busy with work and have had to travel out to the West Coast and haven't really had time for a personal life lately," Sam lied. This asshole!

He looked back at Sam and said, "I like you Sam and I want to keep my business here. But I will not be insulted by having you reject my daughter. I have a meeting with your boss in ten minutes, I just wanted us to be clear with each other before I went in there. I expect you will be calling Quinn for that next date soon." He took out his phone to make another call.

Sam was shocked. He just turned and walked out of the room. What in the hell just happened? This couldn't be about Quinn, it was about this guy's ego. He took it personally, and Quinn had obviously lied to him about how the date had gone. He would have to call Quinn and tell her to call off her dog of a father. Shit, this was why he should have never started mixing work life and personal life in the first place.

He was in a horrible mood the rest of the day, snapping at his poor secretary, being an asshole to the younger associates. Finally it was time to leave the office. The only thing he could think of that would make him feel better was Mercedes. Just as she popped into his head, his cell rang with her name across the screen. He smiled his first smile since her email to him this morning and answered.

"Are you calling to gloat more about how you can touch your beautiful breasts, but I cannot?" Sam asked her as a greeting.

He heard a guy laughing and saying Mercedes' name in the background from her end and he was instantly on alert. What the hell? He thought. "Actually," Mercedes said, "I was wondering if you would want to meet some of the guys from my office and me for some drinks."

Sam's pissed off attitude had come back the minute he heard that dude laughing. He tried to keep the irritation out of his voice as he told her he would meet them. She gave him the name of the bar and he grabbed a cab. On the way over, he tried to get control of his jealousy. He knew that was what was going on, and he got even more pissed that he couldn't go in there, pull her to him to show these guys she was his. Because she wasn't. "Damn it," he said under his breath.

When his cab pulled up, he looked at the bar and groaned. It was one of those after work frat boy bars that he and Puck always avoided. He paid the cabbie and went to the door. When he opened it, he scanned the narrow bar for Mercedes. He couldn't see her, but he heard her laugh. Where was she? Then, he zeroed in on a group of four guys surrounding her and they were all laughing at something she had said. Control the jealousy, thought Sam. He walked up as nonchalantly as he could but he could feel his jaw clenching. Mercedes looked up and made eye contact with him and gave him the biggest smile, which temporarily rendered him speechless. She gave a giggle then came over to him.

"Hi Sam," she purred to him quietly.

"Hi Cedes." He smiled at her.

She gave him a quick hug and he cursed himself for starting this war with her as he felt her breasts push against his stomach. She turned around and said to the group, "Guys, this is my friend Sam. Sam, the guys." Sam said a general hi to all of them while simultaneously sizing them all up. He could feel them doing the same to him; like he was intruding on their girl, not the other way around. The most frat-looking guy of the group leaned forward and put his hand out to shake Sam's while at the same time putting his other hand on Mercedes' shoulder. Sam looked at this douche's hand and then up at the douche's eyes. "I'm Trent. So, you are Mercedes' friend from when you guys were kids, right? That's pretty sweet, bro."

Fuck you and your hand on Mercedes, bro, Sam wanted to say.

"That's right. We were tight and then when she found out she was coming out to New York, I was the first one she called. So, yeah, it's pretty sweet." He said the last word sarcastically.

He could feel Mercedes tense by him as she watched the exchange. "Well," she said and clapped her hands, "How about we get you a drink! Gin and tonic, Sam?" she asked and gave him a sharp look. Sam reluctantly turned his eyes away from the stare down he was having with Trent and looked at Mercedes.

"That would be great Cedes, thanks. Will you just open a tab for me and put all of your drinks on it too?"

The tension had been cut, but just a little. He wished he had thought to invite Puck so he would have had some back up. The rest of the night was spent with Sam and Trent exchanging veiled insults towards each other and Sam could see Mercedes getting more and more pissed, but he couldn't stop. He would not back down to being challenged for some right to Mercedes this asshole thought he had.

Finally, things were starting to wrap up. The married guys had to go home and it just Sam, Mercedes and Dickwad Trent.

"So, Mercedes, do you want me to ride with you back to your place to make sure all's good?" Trent asked.

This fucker, Sam thought for the thousandth time.

"Thanks, Trent, but that's okay. I will see you in the morning?" Mercedes answered.

"Alright, darling," he said as he bent down to pull her into a hug, "Have a good night."

Sam's jaw clenched at the "darling" and stayed clenched for the hug.

"Sam," Trent said as a bye to him.

"Trent." Sam replied.

Sam watched him leave then turned back to Mercedes, who looked livid. Oh shit, Sam thought.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Thanks for reading guys. This one gets angsty.

**MERCEDES**

Sam looked at her with fear in his eyes. Mercedes was pissed the hell off. She had invited him out tonight so he could meet her friends from work and she also thought it would be a good opportunity for him to network. She had gotten a strange vibe off of him the minute he had shown up. She had tried to make things light, but she couldn't snap him out of it.

"Sam," Mercedes slowly, "What in the hell WAS that?"

"That guy was an asshole, Mercedes." Sam said.

"That guy is my co-worker, who I have to go into the office tomorrow and face. I'm going to have to apologize for how my boyfr-", Mercedes stopped short in shock with what she almost said. They looked at each other for what seemed like five minutes to Mercedes, but was probably only ten seconds. Say something Sam, say something.

"I'm sorry for how I acted tonight," Sam started, "but he needs to learn to be a little more fucking professional. His hands were around you any chance he could get. " Sam looked at her, but she wouldn't meet his eyes.

Mercedes was too freaked out that she had almost referred to him as her boyfriend. This couldn't be happening to them right now. She had a whole life in San Francisco, not much of one, but one that she had worked damned hard for.

Before she could stop herself, she blurted, "Sam, I think we should spend a little less time together," she chanced a look up at him and the hurt in his eyes was too much. She focused on the rows of bottles behind the bar instead. "It just seems like we are moving into couple mode, and I just can't have this right now when we know my being here is only temporary."

Sam still wasn't saying anything. The hurt in his eyes had changed to dark and brooding. He couldn't look at her either. He reached into his pocket and turned to the bartender, "I'd like to close out my tab."

His back was to her and all she wanted to do was wrap her arms around his waist. All of her anger at him had given way to regret at her words. But how could she take them back after just uttering them? She watched as he paid for their drinks, put his wallet back in his pocket and turned to her.

"I'll take you home," Sam said. And then he turned to walk to the door. Mercedes gathered her suit jacket and purse and followed him. He held open the door for her and as she walked by him, she smelled his cologne, and wanted to bury her face in his chest. Can I just rewind five minutes so I can just still be pissed at him and yell for a bit then we can go back to his place and snuggle and laugh at some Tosh.0?

"Sam, please say something."

"What can I say, Mercedes? You have made a decision, I had a really shitty day and I just wanted to come home from work and get some take out and relax with you. Instead, I come here to this bar and have to watch some asshole paw at you and I can't do shit because we aren't together. I don't know what just happened with what you told me, we didn't break up because we were never together. I have been having a great time with you and I just wanted to continue. You need some time away from what we have been doing, I respect that. So I will just take you home tonight and we can see each other when we see each other."

"Okay," was all Mercedes could say. They walked the rest of the way in silence. She tried to ask him about what had happened that day and he said he just had a really difficult client. They finally got to her place and he was looking at the cars going by; the dog going pee while out for a walk with its owner; the crack on the ground, anywhere but at her.

"Sam, do you want to come up? We can talk some more, I can make you some –" Mercedes stopped when Sam shook his head.

"I should be getting home. We'll see each other later this week, Puck got us those Yankee tickets for Saturday's game. So, I'll see you there?" He finally looked at her.

"Sounds good," Mercedes said and went in for the hug. He hugged her back and she rested her head on his chest. They stayed like that for a while and then he let go and so did she.

"Have a good night, Mercedes," Sam said and he turned to go hail a cab.

She walked into her lobby, checked her mail, got in the elevator and went to her place and fell onto the couch. Sitting there in the quiet, she wasn't as confused about her emotions as she had been at the bar. She really liked Sam a lot. He made he feel special, he made her laugh and the sex! She exhaled a long breath thinking about it. They fit together, but that is what scared her.

It was extra quiet in her place, so she turned on the TV just to have some background noise. She threw on her sweats and a tee, made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, grabbed a bottle of wine and flopped back down onto the couch. She started paying attention to what was on, it was Love Actually. Of course.

By the end of the movie, she had finished most of the bottle of wine and she had started sobbing at the proposal scene between Jamie and Aurelia and didn't stop until the credits were rolling. "Ugh, I'm a fucking mess!" she said out loud to herself. And then she proceeded to pass out.

She woke up the next morning to her phone ringing under her face. She sat up straight, what's happening? Then it all came back to her. The stupid decision to end the whatever her and Sam had, the wine, yuck, and the crying. Her phone was still ringing.

"Hello?" she said as she tried to sound awake and alert.

"Mercedes? It's Sugar. I just wanted to make sure you are okay. You aren't here at the office and I didn't hear from you that you were going to be late."

"What time is it?" Mercedes asked.

"It's 10:45," answered Sugar.

"SHIT! Okay, I'm going to be in the office in one hour. Please apologize to Trent for me that I missed this morning's briefing meeting. Damn it. Okay, thank you for calling Sugar. See you in an hour." Mercedes hung up and bolted for the shower.

She was true to her word and got to the office right at 11:45. She powered through her day and started the countdown for when she was going to see Sam again on Saturday.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Thanks for reading guys!

**PUCK**

Figgins sat up straight from his leaning position on the bar.

"She was crying? Why?" he asked Puck.

"No, not crying, but she was about to. I didn't know what to do," Puck said as he started to actually look around the bar. It was nice. Made you feel like you were having a drink in your friend's living room. As his eyes we making their way back to Figgins, they fell on an old time Yankees poster and that made Puck remember something.

"You know what, I'm just now remembering this Yankee game we all went to a couple of weeks before the park. Something was off with the both of them at that game. I had pulled a lot of strings to get these three tickets for behind home plate, dude! Behind home plate to a Red Sox/Yankees game. I was so pumped and Sam had been too. Mercedes could have cared less about baseball but she wanted the experience of going to Yankee stadium, I mean, who wouldn't, right?"

So the plan was to meet at the park because we all had to be other places before the game started. I had given them their tickets earlier in the week so we could just see each other at the seats. I got there early so I could try to get some autographs from the players while they were practicing on the field. But they only pay attention to you if you are a hot chick or a kid. So I went and got a hot dog and my favorite beer from Beers of the World and went to my seat.

"What the fuck," I thought when I got to our seats, there were fucking Red Sox fans sitting right next to us. "You've got to be kidding me," I said as I scooted by those assholes. They said something under their breath and I gave them the death stare. I was so pissed Sam wasn't there with me. We usually came together to the games, but he said he needed to take care of something that morning, whatever.

The stadium was starting to fill up and the game was about to start and neither one of them were there yet! I took out my phone to call Sam - voicemail. Then I called Mercedes.

She picked up and said she was so sorry, but she was on her way. I had been pissed before I called, but when I heard her voice, I forgot I was mad. I just told her I was checking to make sure she wasn't lost. Good recovery. She asked if Sam was there yet and I told her that he had been acting weird when I called him that morning, and he had sounded pissed and had to do something before the game. She said okay and that she would be there soon.

Finally, after 15 minutes, I looked down the aisle and saw Sam scooting his way over wearing his Yankee cap low and looking all kinds of pissed. My own irritation about his lateness let up a bit when I saw him glare at the Red Sox punks as he passed by.

"Sorry, man. I got caught up or I would have been here sooner. Where's Mercedes?" Sam said as he sat down.

"What's going on with you, man? We always come to the games together." I said.

"I know, sorry. I need a beer." He said.

I could tell he didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering him, so I dropped it.

"Mercedes is on her way. Go grab a beer." I told him.

"Alright, I'll be back." Sam said as he got up and patted me on the shoulder. It hit me that we hadn't really had bro time for a while and started to feel a little bad about it, but then I remembered why and I was okay with it. Having Mercedes around had been great.

The Sox fans and I were insulting each other and comparing players when both Sam and Mercedes came back to their row. Those stupid ass guys were forgotten. She looked so cute in her tank top and jeans, actually, she looked hot. Sam waited for her to come in first and she sat down on the other side of me and gave me a hug. I couldn't help but look at her breasts, I mean come on, they are perfect….

"Anyway," Puck continued after a long, drunk and daydreaming pause, "She sat on my right and Sam sat on my left. It was weird because usually they were either making fun of me or each other or getting into a debate about one thing or another. But that day, they were silent.

"So…" I said trying to get them to act fucking normal, "Glad you guys both made it but you missed the beginning of the damn game! My friends suck!"

Sam just grunted and Mercedes gave a half laugh.

"What the fuck is going on with you guys!" I yelled at them.

Mercedes watched the game for a couple of seconds and then turned to us, smiled and said, "I just think maybe we both have had a long week, but let's just forget about it for the next couple of long ass hours we are sitting here for this game and enjoy ourselves."

"Thank you, at least one of you has some sense," I said and looked at Sam. He was actually cracking a small smile and sat up and clapped his hands together.

"Let's go Yankees!" he said.

So, the whole game we are just talking, but the conversations were more me with Sam or me with Mercedes. And Sam seemed like he kept looking at me, so I told him to quit it, he was making me feel weird and he just told me to shut up. Now that I know everything, I realize he was sneaking peeks at Mercedes.

By the middle of the 7th inning, I thought Mercedes was going to fall asleep with her eyes open, she was so damn bored. Then she really did start to doze! I nudged Sam in the arm and pointed to her. I was cracking up, but Sam looked at her like he was sad.

"Dude, what is up with you?" I asked him.

He looked at me like he was going to tell me something, but then Mercedes let out a snore and woke herself up. She looked at us all shocked and we were both looking back at her and then we all fell into a laughing fit. It ended up being a really fun rest of the game, but it was the last time the three of us hung out for a while.

For the next couple of weeks it seemed they both got really busy and could only hang out with me at different times. So then we get back to the park.

Figgins was tired, but he had to hear the end of this story. So he poured two more drinks.

"Thanks, man. So, like I said, Mercedes looks at me with tears in her eyes after talking about working hard for things and what if they were the wrong things and she says:

"I'm sorry, Puck, I have to go find Sam."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

I really love hearing your insights and your comments guys! Thanks so much for reading and hope you enjoy!

**SAM**

It had been the longest couple of weeks in his life. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Mercedes was on his mind when he first woke up in the morning, all through the day and the last thing he thought of when he went to sleep. He kept replaying conversations and interactions with her in his head, like the one at the game.

He had just bought his beer and turned around to go back to the seats when he saw her walking towards him looking up at the section numbers for the one that matched her ticket. She looked gorgeous. Sam was frozen in place and stared at her, taking her in. God, he missed her so much. He was still watching her, when her eyes turned away from the numbers and she looked right at him. He could see her taking in a sharp breath and she stopped walking. They stood like that for a full minute as people skirted around them and between them, but they took no notice. They started to walk towards each other while keeping eye contact until they were standing right in front of one another. They still hadn't said anything when a huge roar went through the crowd and an already drunk guy stumbled into Sam and gave him a big hug yelling, "YANKEEEEES!"

Mercedes blinked a few times and Sam moved to catch the drunken guy before he fell on his ass.

"Aw, thanks man. Oh, shit," the guy said, looking at Mercedes, "Your girlfriend is hot! High five, man!" And he held his hand up waiting for Sam to return his high five. Sam looked back at Mercedes and slapped the guy's hand in a high five. The guy stumbled away talking about the Yankees and beautiful women.

"Hi Sam," Mercedes said.

"Hi Mercedes."

There was a long pause. Sam didn't know what to say to her, there were too many things to say. He missed her. He wanted her to be back in his life no matter what the consequences. He wanted to fight with her. He wanted to make love to her. He wanted to watch her laugh. He wanted to see the scrunched up face she made when she was really concentrating on something. He missed everything about her.

"Sam, I think there is a lot we need to say to each other, but there never seems to be the right time," Mercedes had said to him.

"Okay, well let's make the time," Sam responded. But they never did. It got weird again and they still hadn't talked and it had been weeks.

Sam was jerked back to reality by his cell ringing. Shit, he was running late for work. He didn't recognize the number, but answered anyway.

"Hello," he said in a hurried voice.

"Hi Sam, it's Quinn. I'm returning your call." Sam had been trying to get a hold of this woman for weeks, ever since her dad came into his office in full King Asshole mode.

"I've been trying to get a hold of you for a while. Thanks for calling back. So, your father came into my office a couple of weeks ago and laid into me about how you had a great time on our date and I just haven't called you back. Now we both know that's a lie, so why did you tell him that?"

Quinn let out a short, mean laugh and said, "Well, it sounds like my plan went better than I thought it would. Listen, I saw you and your best friend's supposed girlfriend at the movies a few weeks back and unless she is cheating on him, it looked like the two of you were together. You played me on our date, Sam. And I don't like to be fucking played."

Sam had not expected that answer.

"Quinn, Mercedes and I were not together when we all went out," he was pissed she lied to her dad and didn't feel like he needed to explain anything to her.

"Yeah, okay Sam," was her response.

Sam lost it.

"I don't give a shit if you believe me. You need to grow up and not run to daddy when you are pissed off. You are messing with a very important client for my firm, and in turn you are fucking with my career because you got your feelings hurt. You need to fix this NOW. I could care less how you do it, but you need to grow the fuck up and get it done." And he hung up on her.

That may have not been the best way to handle the phone call, thought Sam. "Shit!" he said out loud, but what was done was done.

He was so pent up and just not in a good place. He needed to stop thinking about Mercedes so much. These thoughts were becoming all consuming. He decided the only way to keep his mind off of her constantly was to start dating again.

He shot off an email to a woman, Veronica, who had been flirting with him every time they ran into each other at mixers or other networking events over the past year. Sam asked her if he could take her out to lunch sometime, then he jumped in the shower to get ready to go into the office. On his way in, he texted Puck to see if he wanted to grab lunch later, but he texted back he was meeting Mercedes at Central Park at noon. Sam read it and he felt that sting of envy and jealousy.

By the time he arrived at work, Veronica had responded that she was free for lunch today and she would swing by his office and they could go together to a restaurant that was close. Sam wrote back that today was perfect. He wasn't exactly looking forward to the date, but he was happy to have a distraction from the ever present thoughts of Mercedes and her walk in the park with Puck.

The rest of the morning he was in a state of paranoia that his boss was going to storm in and rip him a new one, or worse, fire him, because Quinn went and told her father what Sam had yelled at her. But nothing happened.

At 12:30, the receptionist called and said that Veronica was here to see him. Sam thanked her and saved his presentation he was working on. He took a deep breath and told himself this was good he was getting out there again, even though his gut was telling him it wasn't.

Sam came out to the lobby and Veronica was standing there typing away on her cell phone. She was an attractive woman; tall, red head with strong features. When she was concentrating on something, her appearance could almost be called harsh, but when she smiled she was definitely pretty. She looked up and saw Sam and she smiled, making her way over to him.

"Hi Sam! I'm really glad you asked me to lunch. I've been wondering where you were hiding since the last time we saw each other at O'Callaghan's." She said as she pulled him in for a hug that lingered a little too long for Sam's taste.

"Veronica, it's nice to see you too," he said as he pulled away and started to walk towards the elevators. When they got in, she was talking about someone big she met in the finance world and name dropping left and right. This is why I have never gone on a date with her, Sam remembered as the elevator took its sweet time getting to the bottom floor.

Finally, the elevator dinged that they had arrived on the first floor and the doors opened. Sam almost staggered backwards, because standing right on the other side of those open doors was Mercedes.

She had a huge smile on her face when he first saw her and when she looked and realized he was in the elevator, her smile got even bigger. Sam just stared back at her and his lip started to slowly curve upwards on the right side until he broke out into a full blown smile.

"Sam," Veronica laughed, "Come on! Let's go on our big date you finally asked me to after all this time."

Mercedes' smile dropped and she looked back and forth between the two of them. Sam was snapped out of his transfixed state he always seemed to be in around Mercedes and looked at Veronica. Shit! Damn this fucking timing, Sam thought to himself. What was Mercedes doing here? Why did I have to email this woman for a date? He was mentally beating himself up on all sides.

"Sam, are you okay? Let's get out of the elevator. Excuse me," Veronica said to Mercedes.

Mercedes stepped back so they could exit the elevator.

"Mercedes, what are you doing here?" Was the first thing Sam could think of to say.

"I – I just came to talk to you, but it's not important. I will talk to you later," Mercedes stammered as she turned to walk away very fast.

"What was wrong with her?" Veronica said with an annoyed voice.

Sam gave her a look that could have shut up an unruly child in the middle of a tantrum. She was taken aback. Sam didn't care, he just said, "I'm sorry, Veronica, something has come up and I need to cancel our lunch." And he ran after Mercedes.

"Screw you, Sam!" Was the last thing he heard from Veronica as he ran to catch up to the woman he had been thinking and dreaming about for weeks.

*** I promise forward progress in Mercedes' chapter next! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Thanks for reading guys! Hope you enjoy.

**MERCEDES**

Mercedes was furious at herself as she flew out of the doors of Sam's office building. She had been so sure about everything two minutes ago. She was going to wing it. Mercedes had seen that happy husband and wife and their kids at the park and even though it was crazy, she imagined a future with Sam and she liked it. She suddenly realized how stupid she had been breaking off what they had because of a fear of what would happen when December rolled around. Why not be happy now, in the present?

She felt so bad leaving Puck there, but she just had to get to Sam as soon as she could before she lost her nerve and talked herself out of it. She bolted out of Central Park and up to his office building. On her way there, she had become deliriously happy thinking of them together that night. It never occurred to her that he might not want the same thing.

"Mercedes! Stop!" Sam was yelling at her.

She stopped and turned around. She looked at him and said, "Sam, you need to get back –"

He cut her off with a passionate kiss to the lips. He wrapped her up in his arms and they kissed some more. Finally, Mercedes pulled away.

"Mercedes, we need to talk. There's a little pub around the corner that's quiet and private. Let's go and wait until we get there to say what we need to say, okay?" Sam said looking imploringly at her.

"Okay," Mercedes said softly.

Even though they didn't talk, Sam took her hand in his and Mercedes slightly leaned into his arm as they walked down the street. Mercedes felt happy for the first time in weeks. She had been in a state of disconnect. Floating through the daily responsibilities and obligations, but not living.

Kurt almost booked an early trip out because he was so concerned about her. He kept trying to convince her she had made the right decision even though it felt so wrong deep inside. He also kept telling her to stay the hell away from romantic movies of any sort. And drinking bottles of wine alone.

Sam led her down the street and around the corner to a small pub tucked away from the hustle of the busy sidewalk. He opened the door with his free hand and she walked in still holding his other hand. She didn't want to let go. The bartender called Sam by his name and said hello affectionately and told them to have a seat and let him know when they wanted to order. They chose a small booth towards the back where it was semi private and away from the other patrons.

Sam waited until Mercedes sat down and then he sat opposite her. They just looked at one another for a bit and then Mercedes started to talk.

"Sam, I just have to start by saying I am sorry. I thought I was doing us both a favor by ending things before they got serious, but I was wrong. I have had a lot of time to think about you and me these past few weeks and I'm realizing that right now, all I want is to be with you. And that scares the hell out of me because my life is on the other side of the country, but I feel like we can face that when the time comes. Right now, we make each other happy so why not go with it?"

Sam was quietly watching her and reached out to hold her two hands that were rubbing the table in small back and forth motions. She looked down at their joined hands and smiled as he started to rub the back of her hands with this thumbs.

"I just haven't felt as alive as I have with you here in New York since I was a kid running around with you guys. I guess what I'm trying to say is, yes, I am scared about what happens at the end of December, but I want to live in the present with you and I hope you do too."

She had said the last sentence in one breath and so fast that after it was out there, she took in a deep inhale and looked back up at him with expectant and nervous eyes. She had never put herself out there like this, she felt so vulnerable and that made her scared.

Sam blew a deep breath out of his mouth and leaned forward.

"Mercedes, first of all, are you hungry?" Sam asked.

Mercedes let out a nervous laugh and said she wasn't.

"Okay, secondly, I have missed you these last few weeks. A lot. I want you back in my life. Let's not think about December now, okay?"

Mercedes smiled, but Sam wasn't finished.

"You do realize you have A LOT of making up to do to me, right?" Sam asked.

Mercedes let out a relieved laugh and said, "Yes, I am looking forward to that part most of all."

Sam lifted his eye brows up and down and said, "I can't wait to be treated to massages, getting taken care of in the bedroom, the cooking for me – "

"Don't push your luck, Sam." Mercedes interrupted while giving him an eye roll.

"I'm already getting the eye roll? Damn, our honeymoon period sure didn't last long." Sam said with a chuckle.

"You know you're not right, Sam. You should get something to eat, it's already after 1. I need to head back to the office," Mercedes said.

"You're going to leave me here by myself? Come on, at least sit here and keep me company while I eat."

"Okay, okay," Mercedes said. Then she thought of something, "Sam, there's something else. I think we need to tell Puck. It felt almost deceitful sneaking around last time, but this time, since all of our cards are on the table, I think we should tell him. I think he will be really happy for us."

Sam was thoughtful for a minute.

"I think you're right. I thought it would make things weird for us since I didn't know how things would be with the three of us at the beginning, but now it won't be a big deal. Good call, now come here." He said as he leaned forward and cupped her face and kissed her. The first kiss was light, but then the next turned deeper and their breathing started to become fast. Sam's tongue slipped into her open mouth and she quietly groaned. Mercedes' body immediately reacted to Sam the minute his hand touched her face and then even more so when their lips met. She had missed kissing his full lips so badly and with his tongue stroking her lips, she could take him right here. Throw him back against the booth and ride him – STOP Sam, she said in her head. But he was still kissing her and she was loving it. She needed to tell him out loud to stop, but she just couldn't. He was going to come over to her side of the booth. Oh no, if he got over here, Sam's bartender friend and those other three tables would be watching an X-rated live show.

"Sam," she said breathlessly while pushing on his chest, "You need to stay on that side of the table. I'm not even kidding."

Sam was looking at her with dark hooded eyes and his lips were swelling from all of the blood rushing to them. He leaned back in his side of the booth took a long deep breath.

"Mercedes, how am I supposed to wait until tonight to have you?" Sam said exasperatedly to her.

She wanted him so badly, but this was obviously not the place.

"Sam, you go order your lunch and I will send Puck a message to see if he can meet for dinner tonight so we can talk to him."

"You weren't joking about telling him right away," Sam said as he got up to order his food from the bartender.

Mercedes took out her phone and opened her email, 78 new messages. "Shit," she said under her breath. She would deal with those when she got to the office. She sent one off to Puck to apologize for leaving him at the park so fast, but she would like to explain and wanted to know if he could meet them for dinner at their favorite Italian place.

Sam finished up his meal pretty fast and they caught up on things they had been doing over the last few weeks. Sam told her how he had emailed that woman just that morning to see if she wanted to go lunch and Mercedes listened to him the whole time with a raised eyebrow and arms folded.

Before getting up to go, she checked her email and Puck had written back that he would see both of them at the restaurant at eight and he was glad they would all be hanging out again. Mercedes smiled and told Sam they were on for tonight.

Sam stood up first and held her things while she got out of the booth. Then he passed them to her and they locked hands. It felt so natural and good to Mercedes.

When they got outside, Sam took her in his arms and hugged her very tight to him. With their bodies pushed together like that, she had to break away before they started making out right there in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Thank you, Sam."

"For what, Cedes?" Sam responded.

"Just, for everything. I will see you at Mama's at 8." And she blew him a kiss and turned around to walk away fast before they could touch again and get her all worked up.

She was so happy, smiling like a lunatic all the way back to her office. Nothing was going to break this high she was on. Even when she got back to the office and the unread emails had jumped to over 100, she still tackled them like it was no big deal.

Before she knew it, it was time to go home for the night. She was late, but she still had time to go home and change then head to the restaurant. She decided on jeans and a purple low cut tank to mess with Sam a little before they could get back to his place. She put her hair in a low side ponytail and threw on her strappy sandals and headed to the restaurant.

She got there and looked in the window and saw that both guys were there already. They were sitting on the same side of the table, "That's pretty cute," she thought. When she walked in, their conversation stopped and both of them stood up smiling until she took her seat across from Sam. They all sat down and Puck said with a smile,

"So, what did you want to talk about Mercedes?"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Again, loving the reviews! Thanks so much for reading guys.

**PUCK**

"Wait a second. Go to find Sam? I'm confused." Figgins asked.

Puck sighed, "Believe me, I was too. I just stood there and watched her haul ass out of there. I actually thought about going after her. And I was going to, but then I got a call and had to go back to work. So a little later, I got an email from her asking if we could all go to dinner. Of course I would, we hadn't all hung out for a while.

I got to the restaurant first, then Sam. He seemed all tense and I knew something was wrong with him because he was laughing at my jokes like they were the funniest shit ever, and I called him out on it but he just changed the subject to the Yankees. Damn guy knew how to get me distracted. So we were complaining about the last game when Mercedes came in. She looked gorgeous, like she always did, and sat at our table. I swear, man, every time I saw her I smiled. I couldn't help it. I had been waiting all afternoon to hear what she had to say so before anything I said, "So, what did you want to talk about Mercedes?"

She looked up at Sam, then to me and said, "Sam and I are seeing each other. We kind of had a thing shortly after I came here, but it was so casual that we didn't want to make things weird, so we just kept it to ourselves. Then I ended it, but I realized my mistake today when you and I were at the park and I acted a fool and ran to Sam's office and we talked and we are going to just see each other and deal with all logical things later. Puck, are you okay?"

All the color had drained from my face. I was in shock. This came out of left field, and I didn't know how to deal with it. All this time I had thought her happiness was about me, but it was just remnants from her glow of being with Sam. I just stared at her and then I looked at Sam and all I could see was red.

I felt betrayed by both of them, but the one that hurt the most was Sam.

"I've gotta go," I said, threw back my chair and got up and started to walk to the door.

Mercedes looked shocked. Sam stood up to follow me.

"Puck! Stop, man." Sam was saying to me.

I threw open the doors of the restaurant and stormed off. The more seconds that went by the more pissed off I got. Sam was right on my heels.

"Puck, man, I'm sorry we didn't tell you earlier. I just thought it would make our situation weird. But we thought it would be okay now. Look, I'm sorry we didn't say anything before." Sam was saying to my back.

I wanted to punch something. I needed to get out of there and away from him.

"Just leave me the fuck alone, Sam!" I shouted at him and I saw Mercedes had come out of the restaurant too.

"Puck," she started to say, but I cut her off.

"Just stop. You guys lied to me. You are my best friend!" I yelled looking at him, "Fuck you, Sam!"

"Hold on, Puck," Sam said, "You need to chill the fuck out. We decided to keep something between us private, that's all. I am sorry you feel like we lied, but we are fucking adults and Mercedes and I made a decision. We thought you would actually be happy for us." I looked at both of them and Mercedes looked confused and hurt, Sam just looked pissed.

How could THEY be so confused? Then I realized they both didn't know about my feelings for Mercedes. It didn't matter. I felt like such a fucking idiot and it was their fault.

"Just leave me the hell alone." I yelled and I got out of there.

Puck blinked a few times and then looked at his new bartender friend.

"So, did you ever tell her how you felt?" Figgins asked Puck.

Puck let out a harsh laugh, "Yeah, I did, a couple of months later, THIS month, December! At the worst time possible. That's why I'm here, man. That's why I'm so drunk now! I told her earlier today. Ugh, I'm such an idiot."

"I didn't talk to them for a few weeks after the restaurant. They both tried to call me and Sam came by my place a few times, but I had my pride. At that point, it didn't matter to me that they didn't know that I had been falling for Mercedes, all I knew was that I felt like an outsider.

At first, Mercedes would leave me pleading messages asking if we could just talk about it. Then when I didn't respond, she switched to leaving funny ones. That girl is too much. I saved them all. Sam started off pissed at me for reacting how I did, but then he just left short messages telling me to call him.

After those few weeks, I just decided to deal with it. Sam got the girl. I still had feelings for Mercedes, of course, but I would rather see my friends than sulk alone. So I called Sam. He was glad I called and we decided to grab a beer that night. It was really good to see him again. I actually asked him how things were going with Mercedes and he just looked really happy and said they were good. It got weird though, so we started to talk about sports.

I saw Mercedes a couple of days later and she gave me a big hug and told me she was so happy when I had called Sam and when I wanted to see her. She tried to talk to me about the night at the restaurant and apologized more for hiding their relationship from me. I told her that I was over it and that I just wanted to move on, that I really just missed them. And it was true.

Things were going well and they seemed genuinely happy together. I found myself being happy _for_ them and just ignored my own feelings for Mercedes. The thing is, Sam had always been a serial dater, I think the longest I had seen him with a girl was a couple of months. So to see him fall for Mercedes like that was brand new for me.

That's why, when Mercedes showed up at my door crying today, I was so shocked."


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Wow, so this is a LONG chapter. I got carried away with Kurt's visit, but didn't want to delete anything. Thanks so much for reading guys!

**SAM**

**_November_**

This was getting awkward, Sam thought. Kurt had pushed Sam's outstretched hand aside and taken him into a hug as a way of meeting. Sam thought it would be a quick hug, but no, he was still wrapped up in it while Kurt actually rested his head on the front of his shoulder. He could see Mercedes giggling over Kurt's head.

"Okay, okay Kurt, you can let the man go now!" Mercedes said.

"I need to do a thorough and complete investigation to make sure Sam is quality enough to date my Mercy girl." Kurt said while not letting his bear hug of Sam let up.

"You don't need to molest him! Let him go, Kurt!" Mercedes was laughing and pulling him off of Sam.

"Did I get a passing grade?" Sam asked Kurt.

"Oh, I like him already," Kurt said to Mercedes. Then turned to Sam, "I had my reservations about you when you were doing your "friends with benefits" thing with my girl, but you have redeemed yourself by officially dating each other now."

"Well, I hope your girl told you she was the one making the decisions in both cases. I'm just happy she wanted more of me." Sam said with a smile.

"I bet she did," Kurt said under his breath receiving a smack to the arm from Mercedes.

"Okay, enough guys. We need to get down to the club before Esperanza goes on stage! Kurt, are you ready? Sam, you have the tickets? Puck is meeting us there. Let's go!"

Sam secretly loved when she took control, but he would never admit it to her. She was sexy when telling people what to do, especially when she directed that at him. He held up the four tickets.

"Wait! I need to powder my nose. I'll be quick Mercedes! Don't give me the side eye – " Kurt was interrupted by Mercedes yelling at him to just go.

"He is exactly how you described him," Sam said to her after Kurt rocketed down the hall to the bathroom.

"I love him, but he is the most high maintenance person I know."

Sam had heard a lot about Kurt over the past few months and he was glad he was finally coming out to visit Mercedes. He knew he owned a bar in San Francisco with his partner and he had met Mercedes in high school their sophomore year. She told him she had actually had a huge crush on him before he had to tell her he was gay. Sam had cracked up for about five minutes.

Mercedes had started to do her thing when she got anxious, she was tidying up things that were already neat. Sam went over and took her hand in his and pulled her to him. She seemed to instantly relax in his arms. He ran his hands up and down her back and he felt her shiver. He moved one of his hands to her face to tilt her head up and he brought his lips down to hers to kiss her.

"Awwwww," a high pitched voice burst through the air, "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you with a man, Mercedes! You are always, work, work, work, "I don't have time for a man" Kurt said in an even higher pitched voice.

Mercedes turned to Kurt but still had her arm around Sam's waist.

"First of all, I don't sound like that. Secondly, I DO work a lot. Third, we are going to be late for Esperanza Spalding and I'm gonna kick your ass if you don't start hustling Kurt! Sam and I are standing here waiting!" Mercedes said.

"If I hadn't come out of the bathroom when I did, you guys would have been doing a lot more waiting," Kurt retorted as he put finger quotes in the air with last word.

"Kurt, you have been here for five hours and I already need to lay the smack down. Let's GO! Sam, don't encourage him." She said to him because he had started to laugh.

Kurt slowly put on his vest, sweater, jacket, scarf and hat while Mercedes watched with annoyance and Sam with thorough amusement on how her best friend was pushing all of her buttons. He put his arm around her and drew her to him and told her, "We'll get there on time, you know the main performer doesn't ever start when they are supposed to."

"Alright, beautiful people, I'm ready to go!" announced Kurt. He hopped between Sam and Mercedes and looped his arms in each of theirs.

"Hallelujah, finally!" Mercedes exclaimed but she was having a hard time hiding her smile.

They pulled up and Sam saw Puck waiting for them at the entrance. Sam got out of the cab and held the door open for both Mercedes and Kurt and listened to Kurt swoon about what a gentleman he was. They walked over to Puck and he was promptly given the hug treatment by Kurt.

"Mercedes! You chose your male friends wisely when you were a child. Smart girl." Kurt was beaming being surrounded by men and his best girlfriend.

Mercedes gave Puck a hug and Sam threw his arm around him and they went inside the club.

Sam had never heard of Esperanza Spalding before Mercedes had gone crazy saying she was going to be in town. She had looked at him like he was insane and said she had only won the Grammy for Best New Artist earlier in that year. She was still shaking her head at him when he launched himself at her and asked if she wanted to see his "Spalding". She had called him a dork, but then agreed that indeed she did.

He smiled at the memory. The club was really nice, medium sized but an intimate setting with small tables around the floor and the walls were lined with large booths. They had actually made pretty good time and got one of the last two booths left.

"So, who is this chick we are seeing?" Puck asked.

Mercedes gave him the same look Sam had received just a couple of weeks ago.

"You know what, I'm not even going to try to convince you two fools about her greatness. You will just have to wait and see." Mercedes said.

Kurt leaned over to Sam and whispered, "Her music is not really my type, but she has a beautiful voice. Mercedes has been trying to convert me to her for over a year since she heard her album playing in some coffee shop. And don't even get me started about her feeling of validation when she was nominated for a Grammy."

Sam laughed, "I can only imagine."

Sam looked at Mercedes on his other side and she wasn't even paying attention to their conversation. She was fighting a losing battle of keeping a silly, giddy smile from playing across her face. He put his hand on her leg under the table and gave a little squeeze.

"You're so happy," he said to her.

"Of course I am. I've got my three best guys here with me and we are seeing one of my top favorite female musicians. I can't wait for you to see her, Sam." Mercedes said and picked up his arm and put it around her shoulders so she could snuggle into his side.

The lights went dim and a man came up on stage to announce the main act. Mercedes clapped her hands together in excitement before anyone else had started to and Sam brought her in tighter. She was adorable and sexy at the same time.

Mercedes was right, Esperanza was a beautiful singer. Before she sang each song she would talk about it and what it meant to her and Mercedes just sat there with her hands clutched to her heart, her eyes wide in awe. Sam got Kurt's attention and motioned his head over to Mercedes so he could see her reactions and Kurt just smiled fondly and shook his head. Sam caught Puck's eye and asked him silently if he was liking the show. Puck shrugged his shoulders and gave a so/so motion with his hand. For Puck, that meant it was good.

The best part of the night for Sam was when she started to sing a song called, "Little Fly" because that is when Mercedes began to sing along with her. Sam was startled by how amazing she sounded. Her voice was like magic. He had heard her sing playfully, but had never heard her get lost in a song like she was now. He could not take his eyes off of her. The light from the stage came down and illuminated her face as she closed her eyes and sang along and swayed her upper body along with the rhythm of the song. Sam had blocked out all of the other sounds, just heard Mercedes' beautiful voice. The song ended and she opened her eyes and looked at him. She immediately flushed and got a self-conscious look on her face.

"Ugh, Sam, you weren't listening to me were you?" She said obviously embarrassed.

Sam couldn't find his voice for a minute.

"Mercedes, you sounded amazing. I can't believe you never sang in front of me like that before." Sam said just above a whisper.

Mercedes flushed and just buried her head into his chest. He looked over at Kurt and Puck to see if they had heard her, but they were engrossed in a heated debate about whether Hugh Jackman was gay or not. Kurt said definitely, yes, he was a closeted gay, Puck said no way because he was Wolverine.

"Do you hear this?" Sam asked Mercedes.

"Trying not to," she answered and he knew she was doing her trademark eye roll.

After the concert, Mercedes suggested they all go to a bar nearby her secretary, Sugar, had told her about.

"Before you can ask, no, Kurt it is not a gay bar. But she said all of the bartenders are hot and male." Mercedes said.

"Then let's go!" Kurt said. And he and Mercedes walked ahead of Sam and Puck chatting away.

"That girl was pretty hot. And she could sing," Puck said.

Sam laughed, "Yeah, she ended up being good. Hey, you're not going to visit your mom this year for Thanksgiving, right?"

"No. I was planning on spending it with you." Puck said.

"Good. I was hoping you would stay in town. Mercedes isn't going to fly back to California, so it will be the three of us. So Joe's Shanghai?"

"You know it, man. Our Thanksgiving tradition." Puck enthusiastically responded.

Sam was really glad things were back to normal with Puck. He had felt like a piece of him was missing when Puck wasn't talking to him. Puck was his brother, even though they technically came from different households, they considered each other family. After Puck left the restaurant that night, he had felt like the decision to keep things from him had been one of his all-time stupidest ideas. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it hadn't been about Puck, but about himself trying to keep his own feelings for Mercedes in check by not making it public. Whatever it was, he was just glad his best friend was back in his life.

They got to the bar and Kurt and Mercedes were giggling over something as they made their way in. Sam just shook his head at them. Puck laughed, "Look at them, I bet this is how they were in high school too."

Those were their last sober words. They had not planned on drinking a lot, but with the four of their competitive personalities trying to one up each other, a couple of hours later they were a mess. They stumbled out of the bar laughing over a small brunette girl they had met in there trying to school them on Broadway when she had overheard Kurt and Mercedes talking about going to see Memphis.

"Aaaagggghhh, her VOICE." Sam was saying and covering his ears with his hands.

"You need to stooooppppp," Mercedes laughed trying to pull his hands off of his ears.

"I've gotta get home and my bed," Puck slurred.

"Oow! I would like the honors of hailing my first New York cab! When I was here with Blaine, he kept butting in and doing it! He's so bossy! I'm going to call him right now and tell him how bossy his ass is." Kurt rambled while he got his phone out.

"Sam, stay over," Mercedes said to him seductively. Sam felt the familiar stirring down below.

"Yes." Was all Sam said.

They all ended up in the places they were supposed to be. Puck home. Sam and Kurt at Mercedes' place. Kurt was unhappily on the sofa couch.

"Sam, I had planned on sleeping in Mercy's bed with her, but I think three's a crowd tonight. I'm judging you right now, taking my space in that comfy bed. Humph." And then he passed out.

Sam and Mercedes burst out laughing. He was planning on having a wild night with her that night, but while he was brushing his teeth and making sexy poses in the mirror practicing what he would do for her, she passed out too. He settled for snuggling her lightly snoring body.

He woke up in the morning to a massive headache and an empty bed. He walked out of the bedroom and stopped when he heard Mercedes and Kurt talking. He didn't want to eavesdrop, but he couldn't force himself to make his presence be known.

"Mercedes, don't get me wrong," Kurt was saying to Mercedes, "I really like Sam, and I can't tell you how much it means to me to see you so happy. But, honey, you have worked too hard to get where you are in your career to give it up for a man."

"Kurt, I never said anything about giving up anything. I just said – "

Sam quietly made his way back into Mercedes' room before he heard any more. He never thought of it that way, that he could be potentially getting in the way of what she had worked so damn hard for. A heavy feeling came over Sam as he realized her time here with him was soon going to be coming to an end.

**_December_**

Sam was getting ready to go to Mercedes' company's Christmas party. He was looking forward to getting dressed up with her, but not looking forward to seeing Trent again. Sam had promised Mercedes he would be on his best behavior. He put on her favorite suit and ran a little gel through his hair.

He rode the cab over to her place and got there right at 6:45 like he said he would. The cab pulled up and she was waiting in the lobby. She looked stunning. She was wearing a silver full length dress that hugged her in all the right places. Mercedes saw him getting out of the cab and a huge smile broke out across her face as she put on her jacket and opened the building door. Sam quickly jogged and kissed her on the lips.

"You look beautiful," Sam said.

"You don't look too bad yourself Mr. Evans." Mercedes said with a smile as she took his hand. He held open the cab door for her and made sure she was in before going around to the other side and telling the cabbie which hotel they were going to.

Her company had spared no expense; the ballroom they were in was impressive with a band playing covers of everything from Journey to Frank Sinatra. The cocktail waitresses were walking around with champagne, wine and tequila shots. Mercedes was introducing Sam to so many people, he tried to remember all of their names, but he just couldn't.

Finally, after lots of socializing, they had a minute to themselves.

"So, I got a call this morning," Mercedes started, "It turns out I got that VP position in San Francisco."

"Wow! Mercedes, that's great! I mean, that's what you have been working so hard for." Sam said.

Mercedes seemed to hesitate and then said, "Yes, I know. It's what I have been working for all of this time, but I realized I may not want it anymore."

Sam was a little confused, so he just kept quiet.

"What would you say if I turned it down and took a permanent position here in New York?" Mercedes said with a huge smile.

Sam hesitated, "Oh, um. I don't know, are you sure that's a good idea?"

Mercedes' smile dropped and she got flustered and said, "Oh, I thought….wow, I guess that was silly, right?" She shook her head and grabbed two shots from a waiter passing by.

"Oh no, I don't need – " Sam started to say, but Mercedes had downed one and she was already throwing the other one back.

"Sam, just forget it, okay? Let's go and dance!"

"Mercedes, are you sure you are okay? We should talk about this some more." Sam said.

"No, I'm fine Sam. Let's just have a nice time, okay?"

They spent the rest of the night looking like they were having a great time to the outsider, but the two of them knew there was tension between them. Trent came by a few times to chit chat here and there, but Sam couldn't give a fuck about that guy. Mercedes was laughing and talking with him, but Sam just stood back.

It was finally time to leave and Sam really wanted to get back to her place so they could talk more. Mercedes didn't look at him the entire ride back, but she did hold his hand. When they got to her place, she still wouldn't look at him.

"Mercedes, I don't know what to say, when you asked me about you moving here to New York, that just came out of nowhere and I didn't even know how to react." Sam said to her.

She was quiet for a while and then said, "Sam, we make each other happy, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"I've fallen in love with you. And now I can't imagine my life without you and this opportunity came up here, it just seemed like it was the right thing to do. But I needed to talk to you first and I thought you would be happy."

"You moving here is a lot to take in Mercedes." Sam was saying.

"Why? Why is it a lot to take in? I am in love with you, Sam, and I know you have fallen in love with me too. What is simpler than that?" Mercedes asked him.

"Yeah, I am in love with you. But that is not enough to have you give up everything in San Francisco. And I don't think you should do it."

"Even if it means losing me, Sam?"

Sam closed his eyes and pushed down his feelings so he could answer her objectively. The conversation he overheard between Kurt and Mercedes came back to him.

"Mercedes, you can't turn down that position." Sam said to her.

Tears sprang to her eyes as they both realized what was happening.

"You have to tell me Sam. I'm not letting you off by just saying to me that I should take the job. You have to say it to me, that you don't want me to stay." Mercedes was crying now.

Sam couldn't live with himself if he let her give up what she had worked so hard for, just to be with him. He had to do it. It was breaking his heart and he knew he had to break hers too.

"I'm sorry, Cedes, I don't want you to stay." Sam said as a sob erupted out of the love of his life.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Love your comments. Thanks so much for reading guys!

**MERCEDES**

_**December**_

Mercedes felt like someone had grabbed her lungs and squeezed while at the same time stomping on her heart. She couldn't breathe properly, she was taking short quick breaths between crying. She just wanted to get out of this dress and away from Sam. She couldn't even look at him and couldn't believe he was completely breaking her heart.

"Sam, please leave," she said quietly looking down at her hands.

"Mercedes, I'm so sorry. I – "

She could feel him walking towards her and she backed up with one hand covering her mouth and one hand palm out towards him silently telling him to stop.

"You need to go now."

His voice broke as he said, "I'm sorry." And she heard his steps walking away and she chanced a look up at him and saw him walking slowly towards the door. His usually confident stance seemed to be beaten down and his shoulders were slightly slumped. He ran his hands through his hair and sniffed. Was he crying? He made it to the door and turned his head back over his right shoulder to look at her and their eyes locked. He had tears in his eyes. Mercedes' tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. Sam closed his eyes, causing the tears to spill out of his eyes and turned to open the door and leave.

When the door clicked closed, Mercedes lost control of her knees and she crumpled to the ground in her beautiful gown and sobbed. She stayed like that for a long time until she realized this was not comfortable and she needed to get up. She stood up and looked down at her gorgeous dress. This was not the way she had thought the evening would go. She thought she would tell Sam about moving here and he would have been so happy and they would have danced the night away and come back here to have happy and lovely sex. Then fall asleep knowing they had a future together. She had been so certain that he would want the same thing she did. But she had been wrong.

Mercedes stood up and made her way to her bedroom. She unzipped her dress from the back and just let it fall to the floor. She put on an oversized Berkeley tee shirt and sweats and fell into bed. She cried on and off all night and hardly got any sleep. Finally, at around 4 am, her eyes drifted closed and she knocked out for a good six hours.

When she woke up, her eyes were swollen, her throat was dry and her mouth felt like cotton. On top of it all, she was hung over.

She stared at the ceiling and rubbed her eyes. She wanted to call Kurt, but it was Saturday and only 7 am West Coast time. She felt the lump in her throat again. She needed to talk to a friend and she didn't want to be alone. She threw off the covers and went into the bathroom to wash her face. Then she put on some jeans, a tee and a large sweatshirt, her Nikes and grabbed her keys and purse and left her place.

She got a cab surprisingly fast and gave the driver Puck's address. On the way over there, they passed her favorite movie theater she and Sam went to quite a bit, the restaurant where they got into a huge debate about whether the Niners or the Giants were the better football team, the ice cream shop where Sam had taken the first lick of his cone and the ice cream scoop had rolled right off and onto the ground causing him to make a disappointed expression reminiscent of their childhood days.

Everywhere she looked, there were memories of Sam. She didn't realize she had started crying again until the cabbie asked her if she needed a tissue. She tried to laugh but just ended up making a garbled noise and nodded her head yes.

When they got to Puck's, the cabbie waved away her money and told her it was on the house. She gave him a grateful smile and thanked him and got out of the cab. His kindness made her start crying even more, so by the time she got to Puck's door, she was in full-fledged cry mode.

She knocked and he opened the door surprised to see her, then concern took over his whole face.

"Mercedes! What happened?"

She just walked towards him and he took her into a big hug. She just cried into his shirt for a while as they stood in his doorway. He rubbed her back and just let her cry.

Finally, she stepped back, "I'm sorry Puck, I didn't know where else to go."

"It's okay. Come in. Sit there on the couch and I will get you some water."

Mercedes walked in and did as he said. She was in a daze and was still trying to process the fact that Sam had told her to leave. Puck came back quickly with a glass of ice water and a Kleenex box and sat next to her.

"Tell me," was all he said to her.

Mercedes was trying to stop herself from crying more so she could actually talk. She took a deep breath and that seemed to help.

"Sam broke up with me," was all she could get out before the tears started again. Puck's concerned expression turned to shock and then he furrowed his brow and looked angry.

"What happened?"

He pulled her to him and put his arm around her while she told him the story of how she asked him what he thought of her moving here to New York permanently and he said he didn't want her to. That love wasn't enough for her to make the decision to leave her promotion in San Francisco and move here so they could be together.

She had tears silently falling down her face and was dabbing them with a tissue. Puck was breathing hard, but Mercedes didn't notice it.

He was rubbing her arm and said, "Mercedes, if you ever told me you would do that for me, I would never even question it. I would want you with me no matter what. I would make it happen, you are that special of a woman. Sam is an idiot. I just can't believe he had someone like you and let you go."

Mercedes sat up next to Puck and a small smile formed on her lips. "Thank you, Puck. That is really nice to say."

"It's the truth. Mercedes, you are the most amazing woman I have ever known. You can light up a room just by walking into it. I feel like a better person when I am around you, like you bring out the good in me." Puck was saying. Mercedes was looking down and listening to his kind words.

"I would never hurt you like this. It makes me sick to see you so sad. I would take care of you." Puck took her back in his arms and rocked her. She allowed herself to be comforted by him. He was such a good friend. She looked up at him and was about to tell him how much she appreciated his friendship, when he looked down at her and brought his face closer to hers and he kissed her.

Mercedes pulled away fast and put her hands on his chest pushing him back. Her eyes were wide with shock and she couldn't form any words, her mouth was just opening and closing like a fish.

"Shit!" Puck yelled at himself as he stood up and started to pace back and forth across the room.

"Puck, I – I don't know what just happened here. I – "

"Fuck. I'm sorry I kissed you. I hated seeing you so upset and I hate that Sam is the cause of it. I knew he was going to mess this up." He was saying, then more under his breath, "I can't believe I just did that."

Mercedes was still frozen in the same position on the couch and she couldn't look at Puck. She was so thrown by this turn of events that her brain felt like it couldn't process a single bit of it.

"I'm sorry. I need to get the fuck out of here." Puck was saying as he went to his liquor cabinet, opened the door and grabbed a bottle of Jameson, opened it and took a huge swig.

"Puck! It's not even 11 in the morning!" Mercedes was saying to him.

He couldn't look at her, just took another drink, grabbed his coat and left saying he was sorry one more time on the way out with bottle in hand. When the door closed, Mercedes still hadn't moved from her position. Two of the men who she cared about so much had both left her shocked and hurting in the span of 12 hours.

"What the fuck!" She yelled at no one.

She couldn't believe what had just happened with Puck. She came to talk to a friend and he had kissed her! This was too much. Mercedes finally got up from the couch and put her glass in Puck's sink and went out of the door.

Should she try to find him? No, maybe it was better that she just let him be. She went outside and decided to just wander the city for a while to try to sort out her thoughts. She turned off her phone and began to walk. She had been walking for a while when she saw a sign for a small bookstore called, Over The Street Books, that looked so inviting, she walked up the steps to the door and went in. The clerk said hi and Mercedes returned the greeting and started to browse the shelves. She found a limited edition graphic novel she knew Sam had been looking for and got excited, until she remembered they were no longer together. She was going to put it back on the shelf, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. So she just held onto it while she wandered to other sections.

She lost track of time and ended up staying at the bookstore for a couple of hours. She bought a couple of historical fiction novels for herself (her favorite genre) and the graphic novel for Sam. She didn't know when or if they would see each other before she left, but she couldn't leave it there on the shelf.

When she stepped back outside, a cold wind swept over her and chilled her to the bone. She was definitely not dressed for the cold so she decided it was time to head home. She pulled out her phone to turn it back on and it immediately beeped to tell her that she had voicemails, then another type of beep sounded telling her she had texts. She was about to touch the screen to read her texts when her phone rang and the caller was Puck. She debated back and forth with herself about whether she should answer it, and at the last second, she decided to.

"Hi Puck –" she said into the phone, but all she could hear was muffled yelling. It sounded like Puck had accidentally dialed her and from the sound of it, the phone was in his pocket.

"PUCK!" she yelled into the phone.

She pressed the phone against her ear while covering her other ear with her hand and she heard through the line: Puck's muffled yelling, a bottle breaking and then what sounded an awful lot like a punch.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

We are a few chapters away from the end. Thanks for sticking with the story and I hope you enjoy!

**PUCK**

Figgins blew out a long breath and looked over at his companion for the night and resisted shaking his head. He only said, "You kissed her?".

Puck laid his head down on the bar and said a muffled, "Yes."

"But, she is, was, your best friend's girl."

"I know. I know, but that's not even the worst of it. I must look like such an asshole to you."

"You just seem like a man who is in love with someone he can't have. You can't help who you love. So tell me the rest. What happened with Sam?"

"Right. So I left my place drinking whisky, ugh, and I just had to get out of there. I had kissed Sam's girl. But I was so pissed at him too. How could he break her heart? I wandered around for the most part. I didn't want to face her again, I didn't want to see Sam at that point, I just wanted to get drunk. I found a place in the park and I sat on my ass and drank and thought about the last six months.

I must have sat there for a couple of hours. The drunker I got, the more I blamed Sam for all of my unhappiness and I started to get pissed at him for treating Mercedes like he did. I became furious. And I made the second stupidest decision of my day, I went to his place.

I got there and I was pounding on the door and yelling at him to open. He finally came to the door and he looked like shit. He looked like he hadn't slept and his eyes were puffy.

"You look like shit," I told him.

"You smell like shit. Are you drunk, man? What the fuck? Get in here."

I tripped coming in through the door and Sam was just watching me.

"What's up Puck?"

"You're a piece of shit, Sam! How could you do that to her?"

"Are you talking about Mercedes? Did she call you?"

"No, bro. She came to see me and she was crying and you fucking broke up with her?"

"Puck, I don't want to talk to you about this right now. You are drunk as shit and I've had a really crappy night. I will call you a cab and you can go home and sleep this off."

"Don't tell me what to do Sam. You could have had ANYONE in New York. Any girl, and you had to choose her! I fucking knew you were going to fuck it up and break her heart. You took her from me, man."

"Puck, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I love her, Sam! I love her and you stole her and you hid your relationship with her from me! You took her, out of all the women you could have had, you had to go and take Mercedes! And you know what, I could have told her you were going to do this shit. I could have warned her!"

"Wait just a minute here Puck. You have thrown a lot of things out here at me. First of all, I did this for her sake. She got a huge promotion that she has been working damn hard for. She was going to throw that away to move here. I love her, I love her too much to let her do this. And what are you even talking about when you say I stole her from you? YOU love her – "

"Yeah, Sam, I do. I have and I do. And you ruined – "

"Hold on, Puck, do you hear yourself? I was supposed to think about you in this situation, I was supposed to know that my best friend was in love with my girlfriend? This is bullshit!"

Puck's bottle sloshed around as he lifted his arm to wipe his brow.

"Puck, you need to put down the bottle and lie down and sober up so we can talk. There are obviously a lot of things that need to be said, and you are in no state to talk about this right now.

"You always got everything you wanted. Maybe that is why you would throw someone like Mercedes –"

"Stop right there Puck. I have let a lot of things you have said slide, but you need to stop."

"Why, so you can go find the next girl to be in your bed by tonight? Here, use my phone to call up some ho you have lined up!" I dug in my pocket to try to find my phone. But my pants were too tight and my fingers were not working properly from all the drinking. So I just ended up pushing a bunch of buttons and leaving the phone in my pocket.

Sam's face got red and he started to yell at me.

"I have listened to a lot of your shit, but you need to go. I don't care how the hell you get home, but you need to leave now! Mercedes means more to me than you obviously know."

"Yeah, I can tell by how you treated her! I would have never done that to her!" I was yelling back at him and my arms were flying all around and my bottle crashed into the counter I was standing next to and the bottom of the bottle shattered.

Sam didn't even seem to notice. He was so angry, he was still yelling at me.

"You would never know because she didn't go for you, did she? She loves you as a friend Puck, a friend!"

And I don't know what came over me, but I swung my fist around and punched him right in the jaw. We were both in shock, we had never come to a point of a physical fight before. Sam just looked at me rubbing his jaw and told me to get out. He wasn't yelling anymore, and that was the worst part. I had punched my best friend who probably needed me because I blamed him for secret feelings I had that would never be fulfilled.

I just turned around and left. And I have been wandering around and going from bar to bar since. See why I'm so messed up tonight? I lost her as a friend, and I lost my best friend all in one day."

Figgins looked at Puck and patted his arm.

"You didn't lose them. Your friendship is too deep for that. But you do need to set it right. I'm going to call you a cab. You go home and sleep it off. Maybe give it a day, but Monday, you need to make things right between you and Sam. I think you should call Mercedes tomorrow and apologize, but wait to see her. Give it a little time, all three of you are hurting really badly right now."

Puck was nodding his head. He knew he was speaking the truth, that he needed to make things right.

Figgins continued, "It sounds to me like Sam really loves this woman. If he loves her as much as she loves him, why not let her make that decision of moving out here? She's choosing love over a career, and as you get older, you realize how much more important that truly is. This Mercedes sounds wise for her age and Sam just needs some encouragement to see that. You can't let him let her go, my friend. He will regret that decision for the rest of his life."

"You're right." Was all Puck could say to all of his advice.

Figgins turned around and went to call his cabbie friend. He dialed the number and then held the phone between his ear and shoulder while he took their two glasses and began to clean them out.

"I need to make this right," Puck was saying to himself in his head, or maybe it was out loud. He couldn't tell anymore. He needed to get Sam to see he couldn't let Mercedes go back to California.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Thanks so much for reading guys!

**SAM**

Sam had spent the last week buried in his work. He couldn't think of Mercedes moving back home the following week and he had been avoiding Puck. He was still trying to process all that had happened the past weekend. His thoughts kept coming back to three things: had he made the right decision about ending things with Mercedes, Puck said that he was in love with her and finally, that he was completely alone.

Mercedes had not called him and there were so many times that he had picked up his cell and brought up her number but just never hit "call". He looked at the self-portrait pictures they had taken together on his phone while lying in bed, at the park or at restaurants; his and hers matching huge smiles. He would scroll through all the pictures he had taken of her, some posed and some that she had no idea he had snapped. His favorite was one of her profile, laughing at something he had said with her head thrown back. Have I made a massive mistake? His thoughts were interrupted by a commotion outside of his office. He heard his secretary saying, "I'm sorry, but you cannot go in there!" right as his door flew open and Puck came charging in.

They just stared at each other for a minute, then Puck put his hands up to try to stop Sam from saying anything.

"Did you come here to punch me again?" Sam said in a sharp tone. He knew it was childish, but he couldn't help himself.

Puck looked hurt and sorry at the same time.

"It's okay, Rebecca. Could you please shut the door?" Sam said to his secretary. She backed out of the doorway and closed the door.

"What do you want Puck?"

"Sam, she's leaving in five days. I know I'm the last person you want to speak to right now, but you are making the biggest mistake of your life. You need to get her to stay."

"Last thing I remember you saying was something about me not deserving her and you knew I would break up with her, so why the hell are you coming in here now telling me how I need to get her back?"

"I have been trying to call you all week. I know I made a big mistake coming to your place drunk as hell and yelling at you over my own issues. I know that. But, Sam, you are my best friend and you are about to let her go. I have never seen you happier than you were with her. Look at you now! You look like shit! Have you left this office and gotten any sun this week? You look like a damn vampire."

Sam surprised both himself and Puck by breaking out into laughter. And once he started, he couldn't stop. He was laughing at the absurdity of his situation with Puck and at all the pent up tension that had been building up in him all week. Puck was looking at him with concern, he probably thought he was losing his mind. In a way, he kind of was. Finally he got a hold of himself and fell limply back into his chair.

"Puck, I had no idea you saw Mercedes in that way. I'm sorry if it seemed like I was throwing our relationship in your face and I'm sorry you were hurt by it."

Puck came and sat across from Sam.

"She's pretty amazing, isn't she? I guess the fact that you had her and she loves you, and you let her go, I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Sam, she loves you. She loves YOU. You have to stop her from leaving."

"How can I ask her to do that?"

"She already told you her decision! She said she wanted to stay here to be with you. And if you stop looking at it like you are holding her back from something and realize you are giving her what everyone looks for: love, then you will see how wrong you were."

Sam was silent as he took in Puck's words. Mercedes was willing to change her whole life to be with him. Their love was that important to her. Sam had never asked her to give up anything, she had chosen this on her own. Sam sat forward and put his head in his hands.

"Shit, I've made a mistake," Sam said as he ran both hands through his hair.

"YES. YOU. HAVE." Puck said looking at him like he was the slowest person in the world.

"I need to call her."

"Screw that, dude. You need to go see her. We're going to her office. Now."

Sam didn't need him to tell him twice. All of a sudden he needed to see Mercedes immediately. The thought of the trip over to her office seemed like too long. He was up and grabbing his jacket and threw his cell in his pocket and ran around his desk and booked it out of the door. Puck was right on his heels.

"Mr. Evans?" his secretary was asking him as he shot past her.

"Please reschedule my afternoon meetings!" Sam yelled as he ran to the elevators. He was punching the button over and over.

"Come on! What the fuck?"

"Sam, pushing it won't make it come faster. She will still be there."

Sam looked over at Puck and was instantly so thankful for him. He was the most selfless guy he knew. Sam grabbed him into a big hug as a thank you for making him see what he couldn't see himself and for putting his own feelings aside. Puck hugged him back and Sam knew there were no words that needed to be said, he understood. They both clapped each other on the back at the same time and pulled apart.

The elevator finally came and they both jumped in. There was a light snow coming down when they got outside. Puck went to the curb to grab a cab, but every single one had its light off signaling they were full.

"Shit! What is going on?" Puck was yelling at the street.

The sea of taxis coming by were all occupied.

"Forget it, Puck, let's walk there."

Puck looked back at him and saw he was serious. He came back to Sam and they both started the trek over to Mercedes' office. They didn't talk much on the way there, Sam probably wouldn't have been able to keep a conversation going anyway. His thoughts were all on what he was going to say to Mercedes. Would she even talk to him? Was he too late? That thought made him feel like his heart was going to stop. What if he was too late? He squeezed his eyes shut against that question and tried to put that to the back of his head. Instead, he thought of the last time they had spent the night together. How their legs were intertwined and she was resting her head in the crook of his arm looking up at the ceiling telling him about the first time she had seen the Pacific Ocean as a kid when they had moved out to California. He was just watching her and by the way she was describing it, he felt like he had been right there next to her.

Before he knew it, they were standing in front of her office building. Puck walked forward to open the door and go in, but Sam was cemented in place.

"Sam, let's go. You can do this," Puck was saying to him.

Sam took a deep breath in and walked through the door. They got to the security desk and gave their names and watched while he called up to Sugar, Mercedes' secretary. They had a brief conversation, then he hung up and said that Sugar was going to come down to meet them in the lobby. This was different, Sam was thinking, she usually just told security to send him up.

The elevator dinged and Sugar bounced out of the doors. Sam heard Puck take a sharp intake of breath and glanced over at him. His focus was all on Sugar.

"Hi Sam," Sugar said, but she was looking at Puck. She gave her hand to Puck, "I'm Sugar."

"Noah, I mean, well my friends call me Puck."

"Okay, nice to meet you Puck," Sugar said smiling and still shaking his hand.

"Sugar, I need to get up to see Mercedes," Sam said to her.

She looked back at Sam as if she had forgotten he was there.

"Yes, I know you do. She's not going to be happy that I am bringing you upstairs, but she has been depressed all week. I don't know what happened between you two, but her smile and happy personality is gone. And I know you're the only one who can help her. So let's go." She spun on her heels and walked back to the elevators. The two men followed her and made their way up to the place that was going to determine Sam's future.

He was so nervous that he completely missed Puck and Sugar stealing glances at each other. The doors opened on their floor and the three of them walked out.

"Sam, I will be here in the lobby," Puck told him.

"You go on in, Sam. You know where her office is. I'm going to get Puck something to drink."

Sam nodded and forced his feet to go forward towards Mercedes. When he got to her office, the door was open and when he saw her sitting behind her desk with a distant look in her eyes looking at her computer. For the second time in minutes, he was frozen in place. She must have felt someone looking at her because she looked up and locked eyes with him. She didn't move a muscle. He tried to read her face, but she wasn't giving anything away. He took a couple of steps forward and came into her office, she hadn't taken her eyes off of him. Sam closed the door behind him and stayed where he was. He didn't want to chance walking closer to her yet.

"Mercedes, I may have made the biggest mistake of my life the other night. I thought I was doing what was best for you by telling you to go, I thought you were hindering yourself to be here with me. But I was wrong. You make me want to be a better man. We are so right together. It's like you said to me, what could be simpler than two people in love? I love you, Mercedes, and I'm wondering if we can have a do over on that conversation about you taking a position here in New York. Please." Sam said to her.

Mercedes had closed her eyes for what seemed like eternity to Sam while he waited for her answer.

"Mercedes, please can you ask me again about moving to New York?"

"Sam," Mercedes started to say….


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

Sorry about how last chapter ended! I love your comments and thanks so much for reading guys!

**MERCEDES**

Mercedes was finding it hard to breathe. The minute she had looked up from her computer and saw Sam standing just outside of her office, her instinct had been to run to him and throw her arms around him. She didn't trust herself to not launch out of her chair, so she didn't move a single muscle. She was completely still as she watched him come into her office and shut the door. Then she listened to him as he told her how he had made a mistake and loved her and wanted her to ask him again about what he thought of her staying in New York permanently.

Her heart was screaming at her to just ask him about New York, but her mind was battling back thinking about all the hurt he had caused her. She closed her eyes. Remember, he told you he didn't want you to stay, her mind was telling her. But he is standing right here in front of you telling you he made a mistake, her heart countered. She took a deep breath.

"Sam," Mercedes said as she exhaled, "You told me you wanted me to leave. I have been a mess this week replaying your words over and over again in my mind."

"I know Mercedes, I have been too," Sam said as he took a few cautious steps into her office, "I have been second guessing myself all week. I have wanted to call you, but didn't know what to say. It was Puck who came barging into my office today, talked some sense into me and brought me here. I am being completely honest with you when I say I thought I was doing what was best for you."

Mercedes was watching him and even though she was hurting inside, the pain she saw on Sam's face made her feel even worse. She knew he was telling her the truth and if she hadn't forced herself to stay seated when she first saw him, he wouldn't have even had to plead with her to stay because she would have been in his arms. She was in love with this man standing in front of her asking for a second chance to make things right. But there was the nagging question of could she trust him after fully making herself vulnerable to him and being shut down.

"I'm afraid, Sam." She said softly, "How can I know you won't do this to me again?" She tried to ignore his crushed expression, "I have to ask, you know I do."

"I can't guarantee you that we would never hurt each other in arguments or piss each other off to the point where we feel like we might go crazy. But I promise you with my whole heart, I promise that I will never make you hurt the way I have this week. If you give me a second chance, Mercedes, I promise to live up to be the man that you deserve." Sam was looking at her so intently that she felt like he could read her thoughts. He had come closer while he spoke and now had his hand on her desk.

Mercedes looked down and took a deep breath. Then she stood up and looked directly at him.

"Sam, what would you say if I decided to take a permanent position here in New York?"

Sam couldn't keep the joyful smile from playing at the edges of his mouth or his right hand from going up to his heart. He walked around the desk until he was standing in front of Mercedes and he took both of her hands in his.

"I would say that that decision would make my life complete."

Sam kissed the back of both of her hands before bringing her arms around his waist while he wrapped his arms around her whole body. They melted into each other and Mercedes couldn't stop her tears from coming down. Sam brought one of his hands to the back of her head and rested his cheek on the top of her head. She looked up at him and when he looked down at her, she could see there were tears in his eyes too. He used his thumbs to wipe away her tears and he kissed both of her eyes. Then he kissed her nose and whispered, "I love you, Mercedes" before bringing his lips to hers. They shared a long and sweet kiss before he pulled away and sat on her desk and pulled her to him.

"Thank you. Thank you for trusting me, loving me and believing in us so much. I have learned more from you in this year about life and love than I ever have in my whole life before you. I –"

"Sam, sshhhhh, I just want to kiss you right now, okay?" And she smiled and kissed him some more. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and appreciated being eye level with him. They stayed that way for a long time before they broke apart. Continuing to look at one another, she started to stroke his arms with her hands.

"I guess I need to find a place to live," Mercedes said with a small laugh.

Sam gave her his side smile, "I guess you do."

"Did you say Puck brought you here? Where is he?"

"He's in the lobby. Sugar came and brought us up."

"Should we go get him then? We have been talking this week and he has been so worried about both of us, especially you. Did he really punch you?"

"Yeah, he did. He was really drunk though. He was defending you and telling me what an idiot I was."

Mercedes wasn't sure if Puck had told Sam about him kissing her and she was not going to bring it up now.

"Puck loves you, Sam. No matter what he said, you are his best friend and he has been miserable this week without you too."

"I know. The three of us probably want to erase this week right out of our memories."

"You could say that again. No, Sam, don't!" She stopped him before he literally said it again and laughed.

"Let's go and get Puck." Sam said instead.

She brought her hand to his face and rested her forehead against his.

"Sam, we were so close to making such a huge mistake."

"I know." He whispered back to her and closed his eyes.

"I love you," Mercedes said to him. And gave him a hug then pulled away.

"Let's go thank our Cupid Puck for kicking your ass and making you see the error of your ways."

"Hold on, he didn't kick my ass," Sam said.

"Really, Sam?" Mercedes looked at him with raised eye brows.

"I will let it go since we just got back together, but we will revisit this in a month."

Mercedes smacked him on the arm and shook her head. Sam stood up and took her hand in his. Mercedes leaned against him as they walked to the door. She needed to keep her thoughts down of what a big decision she had just made and all of the things that this decision entailed. Right now she would just focus on today and deal with everything else starting tomorrow. She shook her head against the enormity of what was happening.

They walked to the lobby and found Puck sitting with Sugar and making her laugh. Sugar saw them first and she stood up quickly with a huge smile on her face when she saw them holding hands. She looked back at Puck quickly before making her way back to her desk. Puck watched Sugar go for a beat, then looked at them and broke into an enormous smile as he stood up and walked to them taking them both into a huge hug.

Mercedes looked at Puck as he stepped away from them and they locked eyes. He looked at her and made a quick nod of his head and smiled. Mercedes understood he was telling her not to worry about him. She slightly nodded back so he knew she got it. Then she pulled him into a hug and said in his ear, "You are a good man Noah Puckerman." Then she stepped back and gave him a squeeze on his arms.

"I told you, dude. You owe me big time!" Puck was laughing.

"I know, man. I know." Sam said completely serious.

"Okay," Mercedes clapped her hands together, "I love you guys, but you need to go. I have to go talk to my boss to make sure the position here is still available. And I have more stuff to do than I can even process right now. So you all need to scoot." She began pushing the both of them towards the elevators.

"Wow, rude!" Sam was saying.

"I know! This is the thanks I get for bringing my two dear friends back together?" Puck was protesting.

Mercedes smiled as she pushed the elevator button.

"You guys will survive."

"Sam, I'll meet you downstairs. I need to use the bathroom. Bye, Mercedes." And Puck turned around and walked back down the hallway.

"He's going the wrong way," said Mercedes, but shrugged figuring he would find out soon enough.

Sam looked down at her and smiled. They were still gazing at each other when the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Sam grabbed Mercedes and took her in with him. They were already pushed against the elevator wall kissing and grabbing each other as the doors closed.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Keeping the Faith or any of its characters.

This is my first fan fic, so thank you all SO much for reading Six Months. I honestly have loved reading all of your comments! Hope you guys like how things turn out for Sam and Mercedes in this final chapter!

Chapter 18

**One year later**

Mercedes was rushing to finish a last minute presentation that was thrown at her before she could leave for the day. It's New Year's Eve! She thought angrily. But she plowed through and looked at the clock and saw she was only about half an hour later than usual.

"Not bad," she said to herself.

Just then her cell beeped that she had a text. She pulled her phone out of her desk drawer and smiled to see it was from Sam:

_Cedes, are you still working? HOME, NOW! We need to be ready by 8 for the party. _

"Rude!" Mercedes said just as another text came through.

_Are you eye rolling the phone? Are you calling me rude? I love you, come home sexy woman._

Mercedes laughed and sent back:

_You need to relax, I'm already on my way home._

So it was a little bit of a stretch, but she would be in five minutes. She closed down her computer and grabbed her jacket and purse and headed out of the door.

On her way home, she reflected on the past year. After she had worked out the details of her new position in New York, she had gone back to San Francisco for a few weeks to pack up her place, say bye to friends and get ready for her move.

At first, Kurt had been upset with her and her decision. But once he saw she was not going to change her mind, he got on board. He had spent the majority of her time in San Francisco crying. She felt like her packing really didn't make any forward progress until Sam flew out to help. He stayed with her for a few days and she was really excited to show him all around the city. She took him to her favorite restaurants, the best walks, they drank wine on a blanket at the Presidio. Mercedes was going to miss this city, but she had no doubts anymore about her move to New York.

Sam had found a perfect brownstone apartment for her while she was wrapping things up in San Francisco. She loved it, and after a few months they decided it was a waste of money to both pay rent for their own places since they practically spent every night together anyway. They decided Sam should move into her place.

Moving to New York had been the best decision she could have made, she thought smiling. When she got home, she saw Sam's face on the third floor looking down at her from their living room. When he saw her, he smiled and dashed away from the window.

"What is this man so anxious about?" she said to herself as she walked up the stairs to the building. She stopped in the lobby to get their mail and was flipping through it when she stepped out of the elevator onto their floor. She half expected Sam to be standing outside of their door hurrying her along, but he wasn't there. She put her key in the lock and turned it and opened the door.

Mercedes dropped the mail from her hands and it all crashed to the floor as she took in what she was looking at in their living room. Sam was standing in front of all of their friends and family wearing a tux. Their whole place was decorated with purple balloons, string lights and white lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

Mercedes was overwhelmed, "Sam…what – "

Sam walked up to her and brought her into a hug, "Party is going to be here tonight, gorgeous. Alright! Our girl is home, let's get this party started!" As if on cue, the music started up and everyone came up to Mercedes.

"Mom and Dad! What are you guys doing here? I just talked to you last night! Kurt! Blaine! When did you guys fly into town? This is crazy. What is happening?" Mercedes' words were falling out of her mouth as she was overwhelmed with emotion. Wait, Sam's parents were over there smiling at her! She gave a dazed wave and they waved back, Mrs. Evans blowing her a kiss.

"Honey, what's better than a New Year's Eve in New York?" Mrs. Jones said, "Now head on into your room, Sam has put something out for you." She took her daughter into an embrace. Followed by her dad, "Hi sweetheart."; Kurt, "Why the surprised look, bestie? You know I've wanted to bring Blaine out here for ages! Now go to your room and get in your fabulous party attire!"; then Blaine "Hey beautiful". Mercedes was stunned into silence. She was overcome with joy mixed with a little confusion.

"Mercedes, scoot!" her mom said as she steered her towards her room.

Mercedes allowed herself to be guided to the hallway, but was looking for Sam. He was looking at her from across the room, he was talking to Puck and Sugar and smiled and waved. Mrs. Jones turned away once she realized her daughter was going to follow directions and went back to join the party.

When she got to their room, she saw there was a stunning purple floor length chiffon dress laying on the bed. Mercedes let out a shocked cry and tears sprang to her eyes. Her heart was so full thinking about Sam and everyone she cared about and loved out there in the living room. He had obviously planned for her parents, Kurt and Blaine to fly out. She wiped her tears and started to change out of her clothes and into her dress. She went into the bathroom to reapply her make up and took her hair down.

She walked out of their room to join the party that sounded like it was going strong. Sam walked up to her immediately with a champagne flute and a kiss. He held one of her hands out to take her in with his eyes and gave her a twirl.

"Mercedes, you look beautiful."

"Sam, you have outdone yourself. I can't believe this. When? How?"

"I'll fill you in on all of that later. Now, let's get you some food and drink that champagne and go catch up with everyone. Oh, and heads up, my mom is going to ask you for that jambalaya recipe you made for them this summer." He said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek and went to finish an argument about football with her father.

Mercedes spent the next few hours laughing and catching up with everyone. She was so incredibly happy and had a nice buzz going after a few champagnes. It was a few minutes before midnight and she was getting excited for the countdown. She was talking to Sugar and Puck about how the four of them should go on a weekend getaway someplace when the music stopped and she heard Sam's voice coming through the speakers, "Will the lovely Ms. Jones please come forward?" Mercedes looked around to try to see where he was.

"What – " she started to say to Puck and Sugar, but when she looked at where they had been standing, they weren't there anymore. In fact, everyone was standing in a large circle around her. She was dumbstruck.

"Mercedes," Sam said and she looked straight ahead at him as their family and friends had parted so he could walk into the circle with her. He walked forward and stood right in front of her before speaking again. Mercedes couldn't move and was having a hard time breathing.

Sam smiled and took her hands in his.

"Mercedes, when you called me a year and a half ago to tell me you were going to be in New York for a while, I was incredibly excited to see you again. What I couldn't have told you was how quickly and completely I was going to fall in love with you. I have become a better man than I ever was before you came back into my life."

Sam took a deep breath, went down on one knee and took out a ring box and opened it to display the most beautiful asscher cut ring Mercedes had ever seen. Her hand flew up to her mouth and tears sprang to her eyes for the second time that night as Sam continued, "You are my one true love and I would be so honored if you would be my wife. Mercedes, will you marry me?"

Mercedes couldn't form any words as her tears were free flowing down her face. She just nodded her head over and over. Sam broke into a huge smile as he took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger. The whole room erupted into loud yells of joy and cheers as the circle started to close around them. Sam stood up and wrapped his arms around Mercedes planting a huge kiss on her lips. They were soon enveloped by their loved ones and everyone was hugging them and each other.

"Hey! Countdown!" Puck shouted above the crowd.

They all turned their attention to the wall clock and saw they had 30 seconds before the New Year. At ten seconds left, everyone counted down at the top of their lungs.

"10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Happy New Year!"

Someone had turned on Auld Lang Syne and its familiar tune swept through the room. Sam and Mercedes had not let go of each other and they looked into one another's eyes when Sam realized something.

"Happy new year, beautiful. But one thing, you haven't answered my question yet."

Mercedes playfully hit his arm.

"I did! I nodded!"

"I need to hear it, woman."

"Yes," she said laughing, "Sam, I will marry you."

And with that, they shared a kiss to bring in their future and the New Year.

THE END


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